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Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
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http://archive.org/details/sovereignpeoplesOOIIoy 


A  Sovereign  People 

A   STUDY   OF   SWISS   DEMOCRACY 

BY 

HENRY    DEMAREST    LLOYD 


EDITED   BY 

JOHN   A.    HOBSON 


New  York 

Doubleday,  Page  &   Company 

1907 


Copyright,   1907,  by 

William  Bross  Lloyd 

Published  September,    1907 


All  rights  reserved, 

including  that  of  translation  into  foreign  languages, 

including  the  Scandinavian 


"      17 

PREFACE 

In  1901  and  1902  Henry  Demarest  Lloyd  paid  two  long  visits 
co  to  Switzerland  in  order  to  make  a  close  study  of  the  structure 
*"  and  working  of  democracy  as  expressed  in  the  social  institutions 
^  of  that  country.     The  kernel  of  his  investigation  was  the  direct 
cc  government  exercised  by  the  people  through  the  use  of  the 
<c  referendum  and  the  initiative.    He  sought  by  an  intimate  re- 
search into  its  recent  history  to  understand  how  this  democracy 
,  \    had  set  about  to  secure  and  enlarge  the  political  and  economic 
£   liberties  of  the  people,  and  in  particular  to  protect  the  nation 
s  against  the  dangers  which  the  concentration  of  wealth  and  power 
^<  under  capitalist  industry  have  everywhere  evoked.     Visiting  a 
number  of  the  centres  of  industry  and  politics,  he  talked  with 
^  all  sorts  and  conditions  of  men,  statesmen,  professors,  business 
4  men  and  workers,  probing  them  closely  upon  the  living  issues 
^  of  their  time,  the  Nationalisation  of  the  Railroads,  the  Alcohol 
Monopoly,  the  Banking  and  Insurance  Policy,  etc.,  seeking  to 
leam  how  the  popular  will  was  stirred  into  legislative  activity, 
©  how  far  the  referendum  gave  a  reliable  and  reasonable  expres- 
sion to  this  will,  how  far  ignorance,  passion,  and  prejudice 
^  narrow  its  efficacy,  and  what  sorts  of  fruits  were  gathered  from 
democratic  legislation.     He  did  not,  however,  confine  his  atten- 
tion to  politics:  the  organised  co-operation  of  the  people  for  all 
sorts  of  purposes,  industrial,  educational,  recreative,  came  into 
the  scope  of  his  investigation,  and  from  personal  inquiry  and 
published  documents  he  gathered  an  immense  quantity  of  in- 
formation for  future  sifting  and  interpretation. 

This  work,  unhappily,  he  did  not  live  to  finish,  and  his  friends 


vi  A   SOVEREIGN   PEOPLE 

entrusted  to  my  care,  for  editorial  purposes,  a  set  of  note-books 
and  a  large  quantity  of  literature  which  he  had  collected  in 
order  to  write  his  book,  "A  Sovereign  People."  It  is  right  that 
I  should  here  explain  what  use  I  have  made  of  the  material, 
and  what  personal  responsibility  I  bear  in  the  production  of 
this  book  which  bears  upon  its  title  page  the  honoured  name 
of  Henry  Demarest  Lloyd. 

In  most  of  the  chapters  it  is  inevitable  that  readers  should 
miss  those  distinctive  qualities  of  vigorous  vitality  and  lumi- 
nous expression,  that  swift  picturesque  allusiveness,  which 
characterised  everything  he  wrote.  For  only  a  small  propor- 
tion of  his  notes  were  left  in  a  shape  admitting  direct  transcrip- 
tion for  this  book.  For  the  most  part  they  were  the  hasty 
jottings  of  conversations  recorded  red-hot  as  he  returned  to 
his  hotel,  or  brief  allusions  to  articles  he  had  perused,  or  else 
impressions  of  passing  events  that  struck  his  imagination  and 
might  serve  to  illustrate  some  thought  that  flitted  across  his 
mind. 

All  this  was  raw  material  designed  for  future  assimilation 
when  he  came  to  the  large  task  of  imposing  intellectual  order 
upon  his  subject-matter.  Although  in  close  and  entire  sym- 
pathy with  my  friend's  democratic  standpoints,  I  could  not 
hope  to  build  out  of  this  material  the  noble  and  imposing  edifice 
which  he  would  have  raised.  The  structure  I  have  been  able 
to  erect  is  far  humbler  and  less  serviceable.  Following  the 
general  ground-plan,  as  I  gathered  it  from  his  notes,  I  have 
built  into  the  chapters  of  this  book  a  mass  of  the  facts  recorded 
in  his  notes,  amplified  by  references  to  the  documents  he  had 
collected.  In  doing  this  I  have  been  compelled  to  fuse  frag- 
ments of  material  scattered  through  the  note-books,  supple- 
menting them  from  other  sources,  in  this  way  losing  much  of 
the  personal  qualities  which  the  individual  notes  conveyed. 
Wherever  it  has  seemed  practicable,  however,  I  have  intro- 
duced phrases  and  sentences  taken  verbatim  from  the  note- 


PREFACE  vii 

books,  and  in  a  few  places  large  passages  comprising  several 
pages  each  have  admitted  of  transcription  with  scarcely  the 
alteration  of  a  word. 

Although  it  has  been  my  endeavour  to  follow  out  as  far  as 
possible  the  chief  threads  of  interest  indicated  in  the  note-books, 
the  universality  of  his  sympathy  with  all  movements  of  social 
betterment  led  him  in  his  conversation  or  his  reading  to  touch 
many  themes  which  he  had  not  time  or  opportunity  to  elabo- 
rate. At  certain  places  indeed  his  plan  of  study  radiated  into 
an  intricacy  of  design  which  a  whole  lifetime  would  hardly 
have  sufficed  to  execute,  as  the  vast  collection  of  pamphlets 
and  official  documents  relating  to  the  minutiae  of  cantonal  and 
municipal  politics  serves  to  illustrate. 

Had  he  lived  to  carry  through  his  work,  he  would  doubtless 
have  exercised  here  that  fine  quality  of  judgment  in  selection 
which  he  has  exhibited  in  his  other  books.  Many  of  these 
minor  points  which,  breaking  in  upon  his  main  investigations, 
find  a  record  in  the  notes  I  have  been  compelled  to  ignore. 
But,  with  one  exception,  I  have  tried  to  develop  and  express 
what  he  regarded  as  the  chief  lessons  which  Swiss  democracy 
had  to  teach  the  world  at  large  and  his  own  countrymen  in  par- 
ticular. This  exception  is  the  banking  system  in  the  cantons 
and  the  larger  cities.  Mr.  Lloyd's  inquiries  into  this  impor- 
tant subject  made  it  evident  that  he  intended  to  devote  some 
space  to  Swiss  finance  when  he  came  to  write  his  book.  But 
he  had  not  had  time  to  go  far  enough  into  this  intricately  tech- 
nical subject  to  indicate  clearly  the  path  of  exposition  he  would 
follow,  and  I  deemed  it  safer  and  fairer  to  omit  an  attempt  at 
interpretation  in  which  there  would  have  been  considerable 
danger  of  misrepresenting  his  views. 

Although  the  several  chapters  of  this  book  have  been  sub- 
mitted to  experts  in  Swiss  politics,  it  is  more  than  likely  that 
errors  of  fact  or  of  interpretation  are  contained  in  them.  To  those 
who  have  read  this  account  of  the  condition  in  which  Mr.  Lloyd's 


viii  A   SOVEREIGN   PEOPLE 

notes  were  left  and  of  the  use  I  have  made  of  them  it  will  be 
evident  that  the  full  responsibility  of  such  errors  must  be  im- 
puted to  the  editor. 

Mr.  Lloyd  was  profoundly  impressed  by  the  importance' of 
the  political  lessons  which  his  own  great  new  country  could 
learn  from  this  little  old  country.  More  and  more  as  he  grew 
older  he  had  taken  for  his  special  work  in  life  the  endeavour 
to  enforce  upon  the  intelligence  of  his  countrymen  the  results 
of  the  experience  of  other  peoples  in  the  free  acts  of  political 
and  economic  co-operation.  To  his  close  studies  in  the  co- 
operative movements  of  Great  Britain  and  of  Continental 
Europe,  he  had  added  his  fascinating  picture  of  New  Zealand, 
a  land  without  strikes,  a  land  where  the  people  appeared  to 
have  gone  further  and  faster  than  anywhere  else  in  the  attain- 
ment of  equality  of  economic  opportunity,  industrial  peace,  and 
a  peaceable  constructive  socialism. 

But  when  he  came  to  penetrate  into  the  living  tissue  of  Swiss 
democracy  and  to  see  and  understand  from  personal  intercourse 
the  vital  workings  of  their  democratic  system,  the  immense 
importance  of  getting  this  knowledge  home  to  the  American 
people  began  to  dominate  his  mind.  Here  was  a  nation,  in 
essential  structure  a  small-scale  replica  of  his  own,  a  federal 
state,  republican  in  form,  democratic  in  its  institutions,  com- 
posed in  the  main  of  the  same  Teutonic  stock,  living  on  the 
same  general  level  of  civilisation,  passing  rapidly  like  America 
from  an  agricultural  into  an  industrial  life,  and  confronted  by 
the  same  problems  of  political  and  economic  adaptation.  In 
Switzerland  he  saw  a  people  grappling  boldly,  confidently,  and 
in  the  main  successfully,  with  the  power  of  railroads,  liquor 
lords,  financial  magnates,  and  industrial  corporations,  socialising 
some  of  these  great  economic  functions,  controlling  others,  and 
using  the  government  of  city,  canton,  and  confederation  in  har- 
monious co-operation  for  this  common  work.    He  saw  here 


PREFACE  ix 

the  two  greatest  issues  which  confronted  his  own  nation,  the 
How  Much  of  Federal  Power?  and  the  How  Much  of  Socialism ? 
being  worked  out  peacefully  by  a  series  of  tentative  experi- 
ments. Lastly,  he  saw  these  experiments  being  conducted,  not 
merely  by  an  expert  bureaucracy,  as  in  Germany,  or  by  party 
managers  as  in  Great  Britain  or  the  United  States,  but  by  the 
body  of  the  people  stamping  the  direct  impress  of  their  con- 
sidered judgment  upon  the  individual  acts  by  which  this 
democratic  government  was  effected. 

More  and  more  he  came  to  be  filled  with  the  sense  that  here 
for  the  first  time  he  had  got  into  contact  with  real  democracy, 
expressed  in  institutions  which  protected  the  Swiss  citizen  against 
most  of  those  abuses  which  had  corrupted  or  deflected  the  will 
of  the  people  in  his  own  country.  So  he  set  himself  to  a  minute 
study  of  those  instruments  of  popular  government,  in  particular 
the  referendum  and  the  initiative,  and  of  the  actual  work  which 
had  been  thus  accomplished  in  the  building  up  of  a  sound  civic 
and  national  life. 

The  following  passages  taken  straight  from  Mr.  Lloyd's 
Swiss  Note-Book  will  best  serve  to  indicate  his  sense  of  the 
nature  of  the  task  which  he  had  set  himself,  but  did  not  live  to 
carry  to  completion: 

"  Switzerland  is  the  only  instance  on  a  national  scale  where 
the  people  have,  by  wholly  democratic  processes,  by  debate 
and  mandate,  taken  possession  of  the  monopolies  and  changed 
them  from  instruments  of  private  profit-getting  to  public  ser- 
vants; the  only  spectacle  of  a  united  modern  democracy 
evolving  itself  into  a  great  economic  agency,  not  by  the  leader- 
ship of  enlightened  innovators  as  in  New  Zealand,  but  by  the 
whole  people.  The  Swiss  people  have  done  this  in  their  cities 
and  cantons  and  in  their  nation  —  cantonal  banks ;  alcohol 
monopolies;  railroads;  city  burials  as  in  Basle  and  Zurich.  The 
purchase  of  the  English  telegraphs  was  the  act  of  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  English  people.    The  plan  and  the  detail  were 


x  A   SOVEREIGN   PEOPLE 

never  submitted  to  the  direct  consideration  of  the  people,  but 
in  the  railroad  nationalisation  of  Switzerland  there  were  several 
Direct  Legislations. 

"A  similar  exercise  of  popular  sovereignty  is  the  purchase  of 
local  water  works,  etc.,  but  even  in  these  I  know  of  no  case 
where  the  details  of  the  plan  have  been  worked  out  by  the  people 
and  settled  by  votes  of  the  people  at  different  stages  as  in  Switzer- 
land. Even  if  there  should  be  cases  of  local  works  as  thorough 
as  those  of  Switzerland,  Switzerland  is  certainly  the  first  case 
in  history  of  a  democracy,  ancient  or  modern,  where  this 
has  been  done  on  the  modern  scale.  The  importance,  there- 
fore, of  this  story  as  a  precedent,  when  the  whole  civilised  world 
is  bubbling  with  excitement  about  problems  presented  by  prop- 
erty become  monopoly  and  monopoly  become  international, 
cannot  be  overestimated." 

"The  largest  of  all  the  individualisms  is  that  which  is  diffused 
among  all  the  people.  Its  Parliament  and  altar  can  be  found 
in  the  general  will  and  heart.  It  is  to  this  new  conscience  the 
appeal  must  be  made  for  the  general  good.  The  individual 
leader  tends  always  to  become  a  usurper  and  to  be  a  good 
leader  no  longer  than  he  is  led.  It  is  the  mission  of  democracy 
to  keep  this  court  of  the  general  good  always  in  session  to  en- 
force the  general  law.  The  people  must  be  sovereigns  because, 
in  the  long  run  and  on  the  average,  their  decisions  will  be  the 
most  unselfish  and  the  wisest.  The  appeal  of  the  new  con- 
science to  the  individual  to  make  the  good  of  all  superior  to 
the  good  of  one  or  a  few,  to  live  up  to  the  obvious  truth  that 
one  million  people  are  more  than  one  or  one  thousand,  can 
be  successfully  made  only  to  all.  It  is  only  therefore  by 
democracy  that  righteousness  can  come." 

"  Switzerland  in  one  way  is  far  more  difficult  than  the  United 
States.    The  United  States  has  been  knit  together  by  the  great 


PREFACE  xi 

tide  of  westward  emigration  from  the  East.     (Fiske  estimates 
about  15,000,000  descendants  of  11,000  New  Englanders.) 

"In  Switzerland  there  has  been  no  such  unification  of  canton 
with  canton.  Canton  is  divided  from  canton  by  lines  of  race, 
customs,  etc.,  almost  as  sharp  as  mountain  ranges." 

"Swiss  movement  is  but  a  scenic  drama  of  which  the  first  act 
was  played  in  the  American  Colonies  in  1776,  the  second  in 
Paris  in  1789,  the  third  in  Germany  in  the  peaceful  reconstruc- 
tion and  emancipation  of  land  and  men  by  Stein  and  Harden- 
berg  in  1815,  the  fourth  in  the  revolution  of  1848,  throughout 
Europe,  including  the  Chartist  movement,  the  fifth  and  greatest 
act  of  which  rehearsals  are  now  in  progress  wherever  men  meet 
to  talk  and  think  about  the  social  business. 

"  Switzerland,  that  is,  is  not  exceptional,  but  is  entirely  and 
characteristically  a  part  of  the  modern  world,  possessed  with  a 
most  modern  spirit,  exceptional  only  in  this  that  it  has  been 
able  to  develop  this  modem  movement  without  the  hindrances 
that  have  retarded  it  elsewhere  so  much.  In  this  it  resembles 
New  Zealand.  Both  New  Zealand  and  Switzerland  are  of  our 
time  and  race,  religion,  economy  and  politics  and  evolution. 
Both  have  been  able  to  move  faster  along  the  lines  of  this  evo- 
lution than  we  because  free  of  '  interpositions '  (Wordsworth) 
that  have  blocked  our  way.  The  greatest  of  these  is  the  sud- 
den wealth  created  by  modern  science,  explorations,  and  inven- 
tions, which  has  made  the  world  for  most  part  a  great  placer 
and  converted  the  peoples  into  crazy  gold  hunters.  The  com- 
petition is  in  '  piles,'  not  morals.  Switzerland  is  in  a  very  impor- 
tant way  a  more  timely  example  for  us  than  New  Zealand. 
While  the  New  Zealand  policy  is  more  advanced,  the  Swiss  is 
more  democratic.  More  has  been  done  in  New  Zealand,  but 
in  Switzerland  more  has  been  done  by  the  people.  She  has 
diversities  of  race  almost  more  of  a  problem  than  ours.  We 
have  a  greater  menagerie  —  variety  in  our  'happy  family ' — 


xii  A   SOVEREIGN   PEOPLE 

but  we  expect  to  see  them  all  fuse  into  one  new  American  type 
in  the  process  so  rapidly  going  on.  But  in  Switzerland  the 
different  bloods  have  each  their  own  set  place.  Germans  and 
French,  and  Italians  and  Romance  are  not  mixed  up,  inter- 
marrying. But  lines  of  locality  and  lines  of  race  divergence 
coincide.  Geneva  was  French  a  hundred  years  ago,  and  French 
it  still  is.  Beme  has  been  German  for  six  hundred  years  and 
will  be  so  hundreds  of  years  hence.  Ticino  grows  less  Italian 
than  it  was  under  Charlemagne.  Race  division  and  geo- 
graphical division  coincide,  —  a  thing  not  seen  in  the  United 
States,  even  between  blacks  and  white,  though  manifestly  De 
Tocqueville's  prophesy,  that  the  negroes  tend  to  monopolise 
for  habitation  and  for  working  the  southernmost  States,  moves 
up  slowly  towards  fulfilment. 

"Switzerland  also  has  its  immigration  problem  both  in  French 
Switzerland  and  in  German. 

"All  these  things  that  prove  American  backwardness  as  com- 
pared with  New  Zealand  and  Switzerland  is  not  due  to  'new 
country '  nor  to  lack  of  homogeneity,  nor  to  immigration,  but 
to  some  other  cause.  We  could  unite  immigrant  and  native, 
European  and  American,  North  and  South,  Catholic  and  Protes- 
tant, but  for  some  obstacle  other  than  the  differences  which 
have  not  prevented  their  union  in  Switzerland  in  these  most 
advanced  political  and  industrial  uses  of  social  force.  What 
is  that  obstacle?  It  is  the  great  wealth  scraped  up  on  the 
placers  by  the  ablest  grabbers.  Unity  and  opportunity  for  all 
have  been  a  policy  which  every  philosopher  from  Plato  to 
Mazzini  has  warned  us  could  not  endure  where  great  inequality 
existed,  a  teaching  which  the  history  of  all  the  republics  so  far 
except  Switzerland  has  verified." 

"My  point  is  not  to  present  the  Swiss  people  as  a  perfect 
democracy,  or  doing  with  pre-eminent  success  all  the  things 
they  undertake,  i.e.,  the  nationalisation  of  the  railroads,  fire 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

CHAPTER  I 
A  Laboratory  of  Democracy i 

CHAPTER  II 
The  Growth  of  Swiss  Democracy 9 

CHAPTER  III 
The  Commune        29 

CHAPTER  IV 
The  Landsgemeinde  or  State  Commune 47 

CHAPTER  V 
Popular  Checks  on  the  Representative  System        57 

CHAPTER  VI 
Direct  Democracy  in  the  Federation 76 

CHAPTER  VII 
The  Nationalisation  of  the  Railroads 88 

CHAPTER  VIII 
The  Nationalisation  of  the  Alcohol  Trade        113 

CHAPTER  IX 

The  State  for  the  Workers 126 

xv 


xvi  A  SOVEREIGN   PEOPLE 


PAGE 

CHAPTER  X 
Industrial  Peace        154 


CHAPTER    XI 
Municipal  Ownership 161 

CHAPTER  XII 
The  Co-operative  Movement        174 

CHAPTER  XIII 
Swiss  Socialism 183 

CHAPTER  XIV 
Effects  of  the  Referendum  and  Initiative 208 

CHAPTER  XV 
The  Fruits  of  Democracy 246 


A    SOVEREIGN    PEOPLE 

CHAPTER  I 

A  LABORATORY  OF  DEMOCRACY 

Students  of  politics  have  generally  agreed  that  Switzerland 
contains  a  larger  variety  of  instructive  experiments  in  political 
and  economic  democracy  than  any  other  living  nation.  No- 
where else  has  the  direct  personal  participation  of  the  body  of 
citizens  in  acts  of  government  been  applied  in  so  many  differ- 
ent ways,  fortifying  or  in  many  instances  superseding  the  in- 
direct modes  of  popular  control  known  as  representative 
institutions. 

The  sovereignty  of  the  people,  based  upon  the  equal  political 
and  civil  rights  of  all  adult  male  citizens,  has  nowhere  been  so 
fully  realised  as  in  the  expanding  series  of  self-governing  areas 
in  which  a  Swiss  citizen  exercises  his  rights  and  duties  as  a 
member  of  a  commune,  a  canton,  and  a  federal  state :  nowhere 
have  the  relations  between  these  larger  and  smaller  areas  of 
democracy  grown  up  under  conditions  of  such  careful  adjust- 
ment and  so  much  promise  of  stability.  Finally,  there  is  no 
other  state  whose  constitutions,  federal,  provincial,  communal, 
express  such  implicit  confidence  in  the  present  will  of  the  ma- 
jority and  admit  such  facility  of  fundamental  changes  to  meet 
new  conditions. 

Though  there  are  one  or  two  modern  states  where  public 
control  of  industry  and  other  forms  of  " socialistic"  legislation 
and  administration  have  been  carried  further  than  in  Switzer- 


2  A   SOVEREIGN   PEOPLE 

land,  it  would  probably  be  found  that  nowhere  has  substantial 
liberty  and  equality  of  opportunity,  political,  industrial,  edu- 
cational, and  social,  been  more  adequately  secured  than  to  the 
citizens  in  the  more  advanced  cantons  of  Switzerland.  For 
not  only  in  political  government  do  we  find  many  able  experi- 
ments in  the  art  of  reconciling  individual  liberty  with  rule  by 
the  majority,  but  outside  of  politics  in  the  labour  organisations, 
co-operative  societies,  consumers'  leagues,  and  an  immense 
variety  of  economic,  philanthropic,  educational,  and  recreative 
unions,  we  have  evidence  of  the  free  play  of  a  democratic  spirit 
finding  expression  in  social  forms. 

Before  presenting  the  slight  historical  sketch  which  is  essential 
to  understand  these  operations  of  the  spirit  of  democracy,  it  is 
right  to  call  attention  to  a  series  of  conditions,  physical,  moral, 
and  industrial,  which  explain  why  so  small  a  section  of  the  earth 
contains  so  large  a  number  and  variety  of  experiments  in  the 
arts  of  self-government,  why,  in  a  word,  Switzerland  must  be 
regarded  as  the  best  equipped  political  laboratory  in  the  modern 
world. 

That  a  mountainous  country  favours  hardihood  and  inde- 
pendence of  character,  precludes  wealth  and  luxury  of  living, 
and  makes  the  political  and  economical  domination  of  an 
oligarchy  difficult  to  establish  or  maintain,  is  a  commonplace 
of  history.  Now  the  whole  of  present  Switzerland  is  part  of  a 
vast  mountain  comprising  Savoy,  the  Tyrol,  and  other  adjoining 
regions.  Though  intersected  by  numerous  valleys,  the  entire 
country  is  lifted  well  above  the  normal  level  of  the  neighbouring 
states.  Only  two  per  cent  has  an  altitude  of  less  than  a  thousand 
feet,  two  thirds  of  the  land  is  composed  of  hills  and  dales,  the 
other  third  an  elevated  plain  of  over  thirteen  hundred  feet.  The 
Rhone,  the  Jura,  and  the  Alps,  with  chains  of  lakes,  furnish  a 
formidable  set  of  barriers  against  intruders  from  France,  Ger- 
many, or  Italy.  No  other  country  of  high  mountains  is  broken 
by  so  numerous  cultivable  valleys  with  such  a  variety  of  situa- 


A   LABORATORY   OF   DEMOCRACY  3 

tions.  This  causes  great  differences  of  local  climate,  so  that 
neighbouring  villages  exhibit  widely  divergent  types  of  agri- 
culture and  of  industry. 

"Within  a  short  distance  one  may  see  at  the  same  time  all 
the  seasons  of  the  year,  stand  between  spring  and  summer, 
collecting  snow  with  the  one  hand  and  plucking  flowers  from 
the  soil  with  the  other.  In  Valais  the  fig  and  grape  ripen  at 
the  foot  of  ice-clad  mountains;  while  nearer  their  summits  the 
lichen  grows  at  the  limit  of  the  snow  line.  There  is  a  corre- 
sponding variety  as  regards  the  duration  of  the  seasons.  In 
Italian  Switzerland  winter  lasts  only  three  months;  at  Glarus, 
four;  in  the  Engadine,  six;  in  the  St.  Gothard,  eight;  on  the 
Great  St.  Bernard,  nine,  and  in  the  Theodule  Pass,  always."  1 

The  innumerable  natural  barriers  separating  towns  or  groups 
of  villages,  which  are  all  close  neighbours  so  far  as  actual  dis- 
tance goes,  have  favoured  the  growth  of  small,  strongly  inte- 
grated, economically  and  socially  self-sufficing  communities, 
each  with  some  distinctive  character  of  its  own  based  on  the 
peculiarity  of  its  physical  environment. 

Differences  of  race,  language,  and  religion  have  helped  in  no 
ordinary  degree  to  present  the  diversity  of  conditions  in  the 
political  growth  of  the  nation.  Though  German  is  the  dominat- 
ing language,  eighteen  cantons  being  altogether  German  speak- 
ing, French  prevails  in  five  cantons,  Italian  in  one  (Ticino), 
while  one  third  of  the  population  of  Graubiinden  speak 
Romansch. 

The  cleavage  of  religion,  by  no  means  following  race  and 
language,  shows  Roman  Catholicism  predominant  in  twelve 
cantons,  in  all  save  two  of  which  it  is  virtually  the  sole  religion. 

A  very  wide  diversity  of  size  and  of  distribution  of  popula- 
tion is  visible  in  the  various  cantons.  In  area  they  vary  from 
Graubiinden  with  2,765  square  miles  and  Berne  with  2,660  to 
Geneva  with  only  109  and  Zug  with  92.    In  population  Berne 

1  Winchester,  The  Swiss  Republic,  p  22, 


A   SOVEREIGN   PEOPLE 


exceeds  half  a  million,  while  Inner-Appenzell  possesses  only 
12,88s.1 


1 

Popu- 
lation 

Religion 

Language 

Cantons 

Square 
Miles 

1905 

Protes- 
tant 

Rom. 
Cath. 

A  5 

0  a 

^3 

u 

a 

1— 1 

s 

Aargau 

Appenzell 
A.  Rh  . .  1 
I.  Rh    . .  J 

Bale 

City  ....  1 
Rural   ..  J 

Berne 

Freiburg  .... 

St.  Gall    .... 

Geneva 

Glarus   

Graubiinden 

Lucerne 

Neufchatel  .  . 

Schaffhausen 

Schwyz 

Solothurm   . . 

Ticino 

Thurgau  .... 

Unterwalden 
ob.  d.  w.   . 
nid.  d.  w.  . 

Uri    

Vaud 

Valais 

Zug 

Zurich 

542 
162 

177 

2,660 
644 
780 
109 
267 

2,765 
580 
312 
116 
35i 
303 

1,095 
382 

295 

4i5 

1,245 

2,026 

92 

665 

211,430 

55,73o 
13,733 

124,017 

71,000 

616,432 

131,3" 

258,732 

150,173 

31,785 

107,605 

150,781 

131,481 

42,939 

57,324 

106,546 

143,180 

116,484 

15,343 

13,272 

20,635 

296,012 

117,514 

25,881 

459,269 

55% 
9i% 

78% 
67% 
86% 

15% 
40% 
48% 
76% 
55% 
5% 
87% 
87% 

25% 

70% 

84% 
87% 

44% 

94% 

21% 
30% 
12% 
84% 
59% 
49% 
23% 
45% 
94% 
n% 

98% 
74% 
99% 
28% 

97% 
99% 
98% 
8% 
99% 
93% 
12% 

99% 

99% 
99% 

99% 
96% 
83% 
31% 
98% 
n% 
99% 
46% 
99% 
20% 

99% 
99% 
98% 

99% 

97% 
96% 
99% 
9% 
31% 
99% 
99% 

15% 

68% 
84% 

77% 

81% 
67% 

14% 
98% 

38% 

16,021 

3,463,283 

Nor  is  there  less  diversity  of  industrial  condition,  for  while 
Switzerland  still  remains  for  the  most  part  an  agricultural  state 


A   LABORATORY   OF   DEMOCRACY  5 

with  a  thin  scattered  population,  great  modern  industrial  cities 
are  beginning  to  spring  up,  Zurich  with  a  population  of  150,700 
(in  1900),  Bale  with  109,161,  and  Geneva  with  90,321.  The 
wide-spread  existence  of  water-power  available  for  modern 
manufacturing  uses,  and  the  development  of  rich  mineral  re- 
sources in  Southern  Germany,  have  led  to  a  considerable  growth 
of  factory  production.  The  textile  and  other  manufactories  of 
Zurich,  Glarus,  Bale,  Appenzell,  St.  Gall,  Aargau,  and  Thurgau, 
have  introduced  into  these  cantons  the  array  of  economic  and 
other  social  problems  incident  on  modern  organised  industry, 
involving  complex  considerations  of  the  powers  and  duties  of 
government  in  the  regulation  of  private  business  enterprise  and 
the  preservation  of  the  health  and  other  interests  of  large  labour- 
ing populations  exposed  to  the  vicissitudes  of  modern  world 
commerce  and  to  the  domination  of  large  capitalist  companies. 

The  plasticity  of  Swiss  democracy  in  adapting  itself  to  these 
new  conditions  is  truly  remarkable,  as  indeed  is  the  whole 
process  of  political  integration  which  has  been  advancing  during 
the  last  few  generations.  That  a  group  of  little  agricultural 
states  should  have  been  able  to  grapple  so  successfully  with 
the  economic  and  political  entanglements  of  modern  capitalism, 
utilising  for  this  purpose  partly  those  implements  of  free  self- 
government  which  had  come  down  to  them  from  their  past  his- 
tory, partly  new  modes  of  popular  control  accommodated  to 
their  growing  population  and  their  more  complex  issues,  stands 
out  as  one  of  the  great  achievements  in  modern  history. 

To  understand,  so  far  as  may  be,  the  play  of  those  social 
forces,  which  by  gradual  processes  through  six  centuries 
have  welded  this  diversity  of  races,  languages,  and  religions 
among  a  thousand  little  groups  of  men,  each  living  in  its  own 
valley,  into  a  powerful  little  modern  nation  with  a  unity  and 
solidarity  of  government  sufficient  to  place  it  in  the  forefront 
of  civilisation,  and  to  protect  it  against  all  aggression  of  out- 
siders without  impairing  the  smaller  and  more  ancient  group- 


6  A   SOVEREIGN   PEOPLE 

ings  out  of  which  the  federal  state  has  sprung;  to  study  the 
forms  of  government  through  which  these  social  forces  find 
expression,  and  to  perceive  how,  through  these  forms,  the  popu- 
lar will  handles  those  great  problems  of  to-day  which  the  com- 
mon character  of  modern  civilisation  imposes  alike  on  all 
advanced  nations, — this  is  one  of  the  most  profitable  studies  that 
can  engage  a  political  reformer  of  to-day,  especially  in  those 
countries  which  by  their  institutions  profess  themselves  to  be 
in  form  or  in  substance  democracies. 

For  here  we  have  within  a  trifling  compass  no  fewer  than 
twenty-five  sovereign  states,  each  fully  equipped  with  the 
political  apparatus  of  a  democratic  republic,  each  formed 
by  the  slow  and  for  the  most  part  voluntary  co-operation 
of  a  number  of  still  more  minute  republics,  and  combined 
to  make  a  federation  in  which  the  direct  operation  of  the 
popular  will  has  fuller  scope  and  freer  play  than  in  any  other 
modern  community. 

Opponents  of  democracy  are  continually  raising  two  sets  of 
objections  which  they  deem  fatal.  First,  they  say,  you  cannot 
get  the  general  will  of  the  people  really  dominant  in  politics, 
whatever  forms  of  franchise  or  election  you  devise,  and  if  you 
could,  the  welfare,  even  the  existence  of  the  state  would  be  con- 
stantly imperilled.  Secondly,  they  say,  if  a  sound  democracy 
is  possible,  it  can  only  be  confined  to  so  small  a  group  of  men 
as  to  be  unfitted  to  the  needs  of  modern  society  which  demand 
large  states.  Hence,  they  proceed  to  argue,  though  a  na- 
tion may  be  furnished  with  a  tolerably  complete  democracy 
in  its  constitution,  the  complexity  of  a  modern  civilised  govern- 
ment converts  it  into  a  practical  bureaucracy,  controlled,  as  all 
governments  have  ever  been  controlled,  by  an  oligarchy  of  rich 
men. 

It  is  primarily  because  the  Swiss  Constitution  claims  to  have 
provided  an  escape  from  this  paralysing  imbroglio,  and  to  have 
attested  experimentally  the  possibility  of  democracy,  that  it 


A   LABORATORY   OF   DEMOCRACY  7 

deserves  the  attention  of  other  nations  which  are  trying  to  be 
democracies  and  failing. 

The  direct  participation  of  a  simple  citizen  in  acts  of  govern- 
ment, and  the  application  of  the  federal  principle,  are  the  key- 
notes to  Swiss  democracy.  By  means  of  the  former  it  is  claimed 
that  those  monstrous  excrescences  of  "party,"  known  as  bosses 
and  machine  politicians,  cannot  thrive,  while  the  latter  prevents 
the  growth  of  those  not  less  dangerous  abuses  that  proceed 
from  the  complex  machinery  of  a  highly  centralised  govern- 
ment in  a  large  state.  Let  the  body  of  free  citizens  not  merely 
elect  men  who  shall  execute  their  will  in  making  laws  and  in 
other  acts  of  government,  but  retain  the  right  of  directing  what 
laws  shall  or  shall  not  be  passed,  what  acts  shall  or  shall  not 
be  done  by  their  representatives;  these  checks  upon  the  abuse 
of  power  by  individual  representatives  or  parties  are,  it  is  con- 
tended, necessary  and  sufficient  securities  for  the  free  play  of 
the  general  will.  The  linkage  of  smaller  into  larger  govern- 
mental units,  and  these  larger  units  into  others  still  larger,  which 
the  federal  principle  enables,  following  a  sound  line  of  historical 
evolution,  imposes,  it  would  seem,  no  limit  upon  the  govern- 
mental area  of  a  well-constituted  federal  state;  for  each 
smaller  area  will  only  consign  to  the  central  federal  govern- 
ment such  powers  as  can  be  safely  and  economically  adminis- 
tered by  it. 

The  origin,  structure,  and  working  of  direct  government  and 
of  federation  in  Switzerland  where  these  forces  and  methods 
have  been  subjected  to  such  long  and  various  experiment- 
ation are  matters  of  intense  significance  for  Americans  who 
perceive  their  own  democratic  institutions  cracking  under  the 
very  strains  for  which  these  Swiss  devices  are  designed  to  afford 
relief. 

A  full  accurate  account  of  the  growth  of  the  spirit  and  the 
forms  of  Swiss  democracy  would  of  course  be  nothing  short  of  a 
complete    history,   constitutional,  economic,  intellectual,    and 


8  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

religious,  of  that  little  mid-European  nation,  a  project  which 
cannot  here  be  entertained.  It  must  suffice  to  present  a  brief 
general  sketch  of  certain  leading  landmarks  in  the  history  of 
that  process  of  free  popular  co-operation  which  has  issued  in 
the  modern  Swiss  Confederation. 


CHAPTER  II 

THE  GROWTH  OF  SWISS  DEMOCRACY 

For  the  earliest  sources  of  the  democratic  movement  we  must 
look  to  the  Germanic  spirit  and  institutions  brought  into  the 
country  we  now  know  as  Switzerland,  by  the  two  German 
nations,  the  Burgundians  and  the  Alamanni,  who  settled  there 
in  the  first  half  of  the  fifth  century,  A.D.  The  Alamanni,  a 
Pagan  people,  who  were  brought  into  close  contact  with  Roman 
civilisation,  took  forcible  possession  of  Northern  Helvetia, 
reducing  to  slavery  the  scattered  Helveto-Roman  population 
they  found  there;  the  Burgundians,  a  Christianised  and  milder 
people,  peacefully  overspread  Savoy  and  Southern  Helvetia, 
imposing  on  the  earlier  inhabitants  a  gentler  form  of  subju- 
gation. Although  at  first  the  two  invading  nations  main- 
tained a  fierce  hostility  against  one  another,  each  striving  to 
encroach  upon  the  territory  of  the  other,  they  soon  found 
themselves  incorporated  in  the  new  Empire  which  the  Franks 
were  beginning  to  erect  upon  the  ruins  of  the  Roman  Empire 
of  the  West. 

The  general  outline  of  these  Germanic  settlements  is  clear. 
Dividing  up  the  cultivable  land  they  settled  down  by  clans  in 
counties  or  Gaue,  each  under  a  chieftain  or  Graf.  The  name  Gau 
still  survives  in  the  names  of  two  cantons,  Thurgau  and  Aargau. 
The  Gau  was  divided  into  hundreds,  which  were  presided  over  by 
cent-grafen  or  Centenarii.  What  portions  of  the  old  German 
military  and  political  system  were  engrafted  on  the  Swiss  settle- 
ment it  is  not  easy  to  determine,  but  in  the  earliest  times  the 
popular  election  of  the  grafen  appears  to  have  prevailed.     Of 

9 


io  A   SOVEREIGN   PEOPLE 

democracy  in  any  modern  sense  there  was  no  trace,  for  the 
population  was  divided  everywhere  among  the  Allamanni  into 
two  great  classes,  freemen  and  slaves,  while  the  former  were 
further  distinguished  as  nobles,  freeholders,  and  landless  free- 
men. There  is,  however,  traceable  in  the  earliest  times  an 
institution  destined  to  play  a  most  important  part  in  the  evolu- 
tion of  Swiss  local  democracy,  viz.,  the  allmend  or  undivided 
land  surrounding  the  village  settlement.  The  allmend  con- 
sisted of  meadow  and  forest,  later  some  arable  land,  lake,  river, 
or  mountain.  What  exactly  were  the  relations  of  the  several 
classes  of  freemen  towards  this  allmend,  and  how  far  they 
exercised  their  rights  collectively  or  individually,  are  disputed 
questions,  but  when  we  come  to  historic  times  we  find  the  all- 
mend everywhere  in  Switzerland  as  a  communal  property  of 
the  village  or  local  group,  and  certain  rights  of  grazing,  wood 
cutting,  etc.,  possessed  by  all  or  most  free  inhabitants.  As  the 
allmend  formed  a  boundary  between  one  community  and 
another  it  was  also  known  as  a  mark. 

When  the  Feudal  System  was  superimposed  on  this  earlier 
Germanic  social  structure,  large  districts  passed  as  fief  under 
the  protection,  control,  and  exploitation  of  some  powerful  baron 
or  some  monastic  establishment.  How  far  such  overlordship 
crushed  freedom  in  local  self-government,  and  interfered  with 
the  communal  property,  depended  chiefly  upon  two  conditions : 
first,  the  magnitude  and  distance  of  the  overlord,  secondly,  the 
ease  or  difficulty  of  access.  When  we  find  the  kernel  of  the  Swiss 
Confederation  in  the  Forest  cantons,  we  readily  understand  why, 
in  an  age  when  strong  men  were  everywhere  usurping  popular 
rights  and  extirpating  popular  institutions,  these  rights  and 
institutions  survived  in  those  cantons.  The  arts  of  political 
and  ecomonic  tyranny  could  not  be  exercised  in  these  mountain 
and  lake-girt  fastnesses  with  the  same  persistency  and  thorough- 
ness as  in  some  fertile  plain  intersected  by  good  military  roads 
and  lying  near  some  great  governmental  centre. 


THE  GROWTH  OF  SWISS  DEMOCRACY   n 

A  great  overlord,  living  far  off  with  many  rich  and  easily 
accessible  possessions,  would  not  find  it  worth  his  while  to  give 
much  attention  to  the  exploitation  of  such  a  people  as  the 
dwellers  in  these  forest  cantons. 

Uri,  the  nest-egg  of  the  future  federation,  also  enjoyed  from 
very  early  times  the  advantage  of  falling  under  the  jurisdiction 
of  the  Abbey  of  Zurich,  a  far  milder  sway  than  that  commonly 
exercised  by  the  small  local  barons  of  the  Empire. 

There  is  some  evidence  that  even  in  these  early  days  the  men 
of  Uri,  as  a  collective  body,  had  recognised  liberties;  every  man, 
bond  or  free,  was  a  member  of  his  Markgenossenschaft  or  Com- 
munal Association;  and  the  whole  body  of  the  people,  collectively, 
is  found  treating  with  the  bailiff  of  the  Abbey  concerning  tithes 
and  boundary  laws,  as  early  as  the  twelfth  century. 

From  this  monastic  control  it  passed  early  in  the  thirteenth 
century  under  the  direct  sway  of  the  Empire,  and  in  1231  the 
men  of  Uri  received  a  charter  confirming  this  direct  dependence, 
and  bestowing  upon  the  people  a  practical  immunity  from  the 
greed  and  oppression  of  local  lords  which  laid  the  foundation 
of  their  coming  independence. 

The  neighbouring  cantons  of  Schwyz  and  Unterwalden  passed 
from  the  control  of  local  lords  into  the  same  conditions  of  privi- 
lege under  the  Empire,  retaining  right  through  the  feudal  period 
a  substantial  amount  of  local  liberty,  though  Unterwalden  was 
less  consolidated  than  the  other  two  countries. 

The  first  important  date  in  the  history  of  the  unity  of  Switzer- 
land is  1 29 1,  when  the  three  cantons  Uri,  Schwyz,  Unterwalden, 
entered  what  is  known  as  the  First  Perpetual  League. 

This  first  step  along  the  part  of  federalism  was  prompted  by 
the  desire  of  the  people  of  these  three  states  to  protect  their 
territories  and  their  local  liberties  against  the  danger  of  encroach- 
ment on  the  part  of  the  Counts  of  Habsburg,  who  had  by  this 
time  acquired  possession  of  almost  the  whole  of  the  surround> 
ing  country.     It  is  purely  a  league  for  two  pacific  purposes, 


12  A   SOVEREIGN   PEOPLE 

mutual  defence  against  external  aggression,  and  the  peaceful 
settlement  by  arbitration  of  internal  dissensions  between  the 
three  contracting  parties.  These  purposes  are  embodied  in 
the  two  following  clauses  which  constitute  the  heart  of  this  his- 
toric document: 

"Therefore,  know  all  men,  that  the  people  of  the  valley  of 
Uri,  the  democracy  of  the  valley  of  Schwyz,  and  the  community 
of  the  mountaineers  of  the  lower  valley,  seeing  the  malice  of  the 
age,  in  order  that  they  may  better  defend  themselves  and  their 
own,  and  better  preserve  them  in  proper  condition,  have 
promised  in  good  faith  to  assist  each  other  with  aid,  with  every 
counsel  and  every  favour,  with  person  and  goods,  within  the 
valleys  and  without,  with  might  and  main,  against  one  and  all, 
who  may  inflict  on  any  one  of  them  any  violence,  molestation, 
or  injury,  or  may  plot  any  evil  against  their  persons  or  goods." 

"But  if  dissension  shall  arise  between  any  of  the  confederates, 
the  most  prudent  among  the  confederates  shall  come  forth  to 
settle  the  difficulty  between  the  parties,  as  shall  seem  right  to 
them;  and  whichever  party  rejects  their  verdict  shall  be  an 
adversary  to  the  other  confederates." 

This  is  not  a  revolutionary,  not  even  a  reforming  document; 
so  far  as  it  touches  politics  at  any  other  point  than  these,  it 
confirms  the  existing  order:  it  is  simply  directed  to  a  mutual 
guarantee  of  internal  order  and  of  defence  against  external 
dangers.  But  it  forms  the  nucleus  of  the  federal  democracy 
of  to-day. 

Soon  began  the  first  bout  in  the  long  broken  conflict  with  the 
power  of  Austria  when  the  confederates  beat  back  their  gigantic 
foe  in  the  famous  victory  of  Morgarten. 

During  the  brief  breathing  space  that  followed  this  victory 
the  confederates  strengthened  their  position  by  drawing  into 
their  league  the  little  state  of  Luzerne,  thus  consolidating  the 
union  of  the  land  around  the  lake  known  as  the  Lake  of  the 
Four  Forest   States,  the   Vierwaldstattersee    (1332).    At   the 


THE   GROWTH   OF   SWISS    DEMOCRACY       13 

same  time  a  further  step  was  taken  in  strengthening  the  con- 
tract of  the  states ;  for  in  the  formal  renewal  of  the  original  pact 
it  was  added  that  none  of  the  contracting  parties  should  enter 
into  negotiations  with  or  submit  to  any  outside  power  without 
the  consent  of  the  others. 

The  next  addition  to  the  Confederation  was  got  by  the  acces- 
sion of  Zurich  nineteen  years  later.  Zurich  had  long  been  a 
commercial  centre  of  importance  for  trade  between  Germany 
and  Italy,  and  its  silk  manufactures  had  already  brought  it 
considerable  wealth,  fame,  and  inhabitants.  A  free  city  of  the 
Empire,  it  had  recently  carried  through  a  great  popular  uprising 
against  the  close  oligarchy  that  had  long  dominated  the  city. 
The  people  demanded  a  share  in  the  government,  and  under 
an  astute  and  energetic  leader,  Brun,  they  had  overthrown  the 
old  castle  system  and  got  the  city  council  onto  a  popular  basis. 
But  the  deposed  party  naturally  sought  aid  from  the  Austrian 
potentates  around,  and  Brun  in  the  extremity  of  the  new  situa- 
tion craved  the  alliance  of  the  Forest  States,  concluding  in  135 1 
a  perpetual  league  with  Lucerne,  Uri,  Schwyz  and  Unterwalden. 
Glarus  and  Zug  also  came  in  next  year  (1352),  extending  and 
consolidating  the  line  of  the  federal  territory  in  the  North. 

Still  more  important  was  the  accession  in  the  following  year 
of  Berne,  the  most  ancient  and  important  military  post  in  the 
country  and  a  "free  city"  of  the  Empire,  like  Zurich. 

Recent  ambitions  of  the  citizens  of  Berne  to  extend  their 
sway  over  the  fertile  valley  of  the  Aar,  and  to  weld  into  one 
state  the  communities  of  that  district,  led  them  into  conflict  with 
the  aggrandising  power  of  Austria.  As  early  as  1323  they  had 
sought  the  alliance  of  the  Forest  Cantons,  an  alliance  which  took 
effect  in  the  assistance  rendered  to  Beme  in  the  victory  of  Laupen 
in  1339,  the  first  occasion  on  which  the  east  and  west  of 
Switzerland  joined  hands  against  the  common  foe. 

In  securing  the  co-operation  of  the  free  cities  of  Zurich  and 
Berne  the  confederates  made  dangerous  departures  from  the 


i4  A   SOVEREIGN   PEOPLE 

true  democratic  principle  of  federation  that  deserve  attention. 
In  the  league  with  Zurich  the  right  of  making  separate  alliances 
with  other  states  was  accorded  to  the  contracting  parties,  a 
stipulation  which  left  open  to  Zurich  the  opportunity  of  a  special 
pact  with  Austria,  if  that  could  be  arranged  on  advantageous 
terms.  In  the  league  with  Berne  was  embodied  a  provision 
pledging  the  Forest  States  to  guarantee  the  inviolability  of 
Bernese  territory,  though  no  corresponding  obligation  was 
imposed  upon  Berne. 

The  entrance  of  Beme  into  the  alliance  in  1353  completes  the 
list  of  the  eight  cantons  that  formed  the  early  Confederation. 

This  Confederation  was  destined  to  play  an  important  part 
in  preserving  the  principles  and  practices  of  popular  self-govern- 
ment during  an  age  when  elsewhere  throughout  the  Empire  the 
ancient  liberties  of  the  peoples  were  collapsing  before  the  power 
of  the  nobles  and  the  military  oligarchies.  Not  merely  did  it 
safeguard  the  practical  political  independence  of  Northern 
Switzerland  against  the  Austrian  power  by  a  series  of  fierce  con- 
flicts in  which  the  great  victory  of  Sempach  (1386)  stands  out 
conspicuous,  but  it  constituted  a  protected  area  within  which 
the  internal  forces  of  popular  power  were  gathering  and  pre- 
paring the  forms  of  the  modern  Swiss  democracy.  While  else- 
where in  Europe  the  liberties  of  the  guilds  and  citizens  in  the 
commercial  towns,  wrested  with  difficulty  from  kings  or  local 
lords,  were  being  undermined  by  the  new  monopoly  of  some 
strong  guild  or  other  burgher  oligarchy,  in  the  Swiss  towns  the 
tendency  was  towards  increased  power  for  the  body  of  the  citi- 
zens, the  merchants  and  artisans.  While  in  every  other  country 
the  process  of  creating  a  landless  proletariat  by  encouraging 
large  landowners  to  encroach  upon  the  common  rights  of  the 
small  peasants,  and  in  other  ways  to  force  them  into  the  status 
of  mere  wage-earners,  was  proceeding  apace;  in  Switzerland 
the  small  properties  and  the  allmend  were  preserved  intact, 
and  the  groups  of  free  peasants  remained  the  backbone  of  the 


THE   GROWTH   OF   SWISS    DEMOCRACY       15 

nation,  the  main  source  alike  of  military  strength  and  of  political 
independence.  It  is  of  supreme  significance  to  note  that, 
whereas  in  other  lands  what  practical  liberty  existed  was  chiefly 
found  in  more  favoured  cities,  in  Switzerland  it  was  the  peasants 
who  kept  alike  the  forms  and  the  substance  of  democracy.  While 
in  the  cities  Berne,  Lucerne,  Zug,  and  even  Zurich,  aristocratic 
cliques  were  constantly  endeavouring,  with  more  or  less  success, 
to  control  the  city,  the  old  confederating  states  of  Uri,  Schwyz, 
Unterwalden,  Glarus,  were  fully  democratic  republics,  sovereign 
peoples  exercising  directly  their  power  through  popular  assem- 
blies. 

The  holding  together  of  these  diverse  states  by  a  federation 
containing  no  central  authority  of  any  kind,  legislative-,  execu- 
tive, or  judicial,  and  consisting  in  a  number  of  separate  alliances 
between  the  federating  members,  is  one  of  the  most  remarkable 
achievements  of  history.  Though  several  attempts  were  made 
to  give  closer  unity  and  more  positive  contracts  to  the  federal 
relation,  nothing  emerged  that  could  be  termed  a  federal  con- 
stitution. 

The  most  important  document  of  union  in  this  early  Con- 
federacy was  the  Covenant  of  Sempach  (Sempach's  Brief),  the 
most  significant  provision  of  which  referred  to  the  effective 
co-operation  and  humane  conduct  of  war  by  the  allies.  It  de- 
serves attention  that  in  an  age  when  hardly  any  checks  were 
placed  upon  the  barbarities  of  warfare,  the  armed  democracy 
of  this  Confederation  should  have  formally  set  its  seal  upon  what 
has  been  termed  "The  first  attempt,  made  by  any  people,  to 
restrain  somewhat  the  fury  of  war;  to  regulate  military  discipline 
and  leadership  by  an  intelligent  humane  law."  * 

It  was  only  natural  that  a  federation  which  had  given  such 
strong  proofs  of  its  power  should  extend  its  area  of  influence. 
This  came  about  in  two  ways.     The  example  of  liberty  and 

1  Danklicker,  '  Geschichte  der  Schweiz, '  Vol.  I,  p.  56  (quoted  McCrackan, 
p.  189). 


16  A   SOVEREIGN   PEOPLE 

federalism  is  infectious;  other  little  groupings  of  neighbouring 
communities  took  place,  some  of  which  eventually  sought  ad- 
mission to  the  larger  federation.  Special  arrangements  se- 
cured for  citizens  of  Appenzell,  of  Graubunden  and  of  Valais, 
the  protection  of  the  federation,  before  these  states  became 
formal  members.  The  other  method  of  expansion,  not  less 
natural,  was  less  defensible.  It  was  the  path  of  conquest,  to 
which  early  in  the  fifteenth  century  the  Confederation  com- 
mitted itself  with  considerable  vigour.  The  territory,  now 
comprised  in  the  canton  of  Ticino,  the  Val  Leventina,  was 
wrested  from  the  Duke  of  Milan  in  1403,  to  be  held  as  con- 
quered land  on  no  basis  of  equality  with  the  federated  states. 
A  still  more  important  encroachment  was  the  acquisition  by 
arms  of  Aargau  on  the  Northwest  frontier.  The  bulk  of  this 
new  territory  was  absorbed  by  Berne,  smaller  portions  fell  to 
Zurich  and  Lucerne,  the  rest  was  held  as  federal  property,  a 
certain  source  of  future  trouble  for  a  league  with  no  central 
government. 

As  soon  as  federalism  was  converted  from  a  distinctively  con- 
servative and  pacific  into  an  aggressive  policy,  seeking  wider 
territory  and  outside  markets  for  its  goods,  a  fissure  began  to 
appear  between  the  rural  democracies  and  the  urban  oligarchies 
with  their  growing  wealth  and  commercial  ambitions.  In  all 
ages  and  circumstances  such  a  quarrel  is  inherent  in  a  policy 
of  imperialism,  the  conquest  and  subjugation  of  foreign  lands 
and  peoples.  For  empire  abroad  is  wedded  to  aristocracy  at 
home;  it  feeds  the  lust  of  power  of  a  ruling  class  by  offering 
ambitious  careers,  trade  privileges,  tax-farming,  and  other 
valuable  perquisites;  the  very  existence  and  the  government  of 
subject  lands  corrupts  the  sense  of  liberty  and  equality  at  home. 
The  conquest  of  the  Aargau  in  particular  drove  a  wedge  into 
the  Confederation,  which  widened  until  it  brought  civil  war, 
delaying  for  well-nigh  a  century  the  further  evolution  of  the 
federal  state.     This  period  of  war  within,  varied  by  a  brilliant 


THE  GROWTH  OF  SWISS   DEMOCRACY        17 

career  of  military  prowess  in  the  later  struggles  with  Burgundy 
and  the  Empire,  culminated  in  1499  with  the  Peace  of  Bale. 

Alone  among  the  many  leagues  that  had  sought  to  stand 
against  the  Empire  the  Swiss  Confederation  had  survived, 
attaining  at  the  close  of  the  fifteenth  century  a  position  of  un- 
exampled prestige,  and  even  holding,  through  the  fame  of  their 
mountain-bred  soldiers,  a  sort  of  balance  of  power  among  the 
combatant  nations  of  Europe.  From  this  time  forth,  though 
still  formally  subject  to  the  Empire,  the  Confederation  must  be 
regarded  as  a  politically  independent  body. 

Towards  the  close  of  the  fifteenth  century  the  Confederation 
once  more  began  to  increase  its  membership,  Freiburg  and 
Solothurm  joining  in  1481,  after  the  so-called  Covenant  of 
Stans;  and  Schaffhausen  and  Bale,  who  had  on  many  occa- 
sions fought  as  allies,  became  members  of  the  Confederation 
after  the  Peace  of  Bale,  in  1501. 

The  further  definite  admission  of  Appenzell  in  15 13  marks 
a  distinct  epoch  in  the  history  of  the  Confederation,  which  had 
now  attained  the  number  of  thirteen  states,  a  number  to  which 
no  future  addition  was  made  for  285  years. 

The  federal  relation  was  still  of  a  most  primitive  order,  desti- 
tute of  all  effective  central  constitution,  though  the  beginnings 
of  a  more  formal  federal  government  may  be  found  in  the 
Diets  (Tagsatzungen),  held  from  time  to  time  for  some  specific 
purpose,  to  which  the  several  cantons  sent  delegates.  Such 
delegations  were  not,  however,  efficacious  legislative  bodies, 
their  vote  was  only  binding  when  they  carried  out  explicit 
instructions  from  their  respective  cantons,  no  majority  vote 
could  bind  the  minority,  and  even  where  unanimity  approved 
a  resolution  no  executive  power  could  enforce  it  upon  any 
remiss  canton. 

This  feebleness  of  the  federal  bond  was  further  impaired 
by  the  relations  which  the  thirteen  states  held  towards  the  rest 
of  what  we  now  know  as  Switzerland. 


18  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

"Of  the  twenty-two  cantons,  now  forming  the  Swiss  Con- 
federation,' '  writes  Mr.  McCrackan,1  "at  that  time  only  thirteen 
were  full-fledged  members,  four  were  still  allies,  three  were  in 
the  inferior  position  of  subject  or  conquered  lands,  and  two, 
Vaud  and  Geneva,  had  not  yet  entered  into  direct  relations  with 
the  Confederation  at  all." 

It  is  no  part  of  our  purpose  to  trace  the  history  of  the  havoc 
wrought  upon  the  unity  of  the  Confederation  by  the  coming  of 
the  Reformation.  The  new  teaching,  which  the  citizens  of 
Zurich  had  received  from  Zwingli,  spread  rapidly  among  the 
other  states,  and  was  welcomed  or  repelled  according  as  liberal 
ideas,  or  the  play  of  local  interests  and  circumstances,  deter- 
mined. 

The  Forest  States  furnished  the  stronghold  of  resistance  to 
the  new  doctrines,  while  Berne,  Glarus  and  St.  Gall  threw  them- 
selves with  enthusiasm  into  the  reform. 

In  the  main  the  older  part  of  the  federation,  consisting  en- 
tirely of  German  speaking  states,  remained  faithful  to  the 
Catholic  Church.  Protestantism,  at  any  rate  that  dominant 
form  of  it  associated  with  the  name  of  Calvin,  and  issuing  from 
Geneva,  got  its  chief  hold  upon  the  French  speaking  territories, 
large  portions  of  which  were  not  until  long  after  fully-fledged 
members  of  the  Confederation. 

The  immediate  effect  of  the  religious  ferment  was  to  break 
the  slender  federal  tie:  Berne  and  Zurich,  the  centres  of  Protes- 
tantism, formed  a  separate  alliance,  and  soon  after  the  five  lead- 
ing Catholic  states,  Uri,  Schwyz,  Unterwalden,  Lucerne,  and 
Zug,  broke  away,  formed  a  league  of  their  own,  and  entered  into 
relations  with  Austria.  Although  Switzerland  contrived  to 
escape  direct  participation  in  the  Continental  struggle  known 
as  the  Thirty  Years'  War,  thus  establishing  a  precedent  for  the 
position  of  neutrality  which  has  remained  a  distinctive  feature 
of  her  polity,  it  was  torn  in  pieces  by  internal  strife  and  dissen- 

1  The  Rise  of  the  Swiss  Republic,  p.  244. 


THE  GROWTH  OF  SWISS  DEMOCRACY        19 

sion,  which  set  back  for  well-nigh  two  centuries  the  develop- 
ment of  national  solidarity.  The  division  of  the  country  into 
Catholic  and  Protestant  cantons  was  only  one  aspect  of  a  spirit 
of  schism  which  manifested  itself  in  every  canton;  the  collapse 
of  federation  was  attended  by  a  revival  of  aristocracy  in  the 
cantonal  governments.  Throughout  the  sixteenth  and  seven- 
teenth centuries  the  decay  of  democracy  was  conspicuous, 
especially  in  the  cantons  where  population  and  commerce  were 
concentrated  in  some  considerable  city.  A  new  burgher  no- 
bility arose  in  Berne,  Freiburg,  Lucerne,  usurping  all  the  im- 
portant and  lucrative  offices  of  state,  and  the  powerful  guilds 
of  Bale,  Zurich,  and  Schaffhausen  failed  to  hold  the  fortress  of 
control  against  the  reactionary  movement.  Even  in  the  more 
remote  rural  cantons  the  same  demoralising  forces  manifested 
themselves :  a  governing  class,  composed  mainly  of  the  families 
which  had  risen  to  wealth  and  fame  from  great  mercenary  cap- 
tains, ambassadors  in  foreign  courts,  and  the  bailiwicks  of  the 
subject  lands,  everywhere  imposed  its  yoke  upon  the  people. 

As  everywhere  throughout  history,  imperial  exploitation  was 
made  the  basis  of  domestic  tyranny.  "The  confederates  as- 
sumed the  federal  rights  of  the  nobility  which  they  have  driven 
out;  their  bailiffs  ruled  like  sovereigns,  held  miniature  courts 
and  exacted  the  same  tribute,  in  the  shape  of  taxes  and  personal 
service,  as  the  former  feudal  rulers.  As  far  as  the  subject  lands 
were  concerned,  it  was  a  mere  exchange  of  masters,  and  some- 
times a  most  disastrous  one.  The  administration  of  these  sub- 
ject lands  certainly  forms  one  of  the  darkest  pictures  in  Swiss 
history.  Every  state  in  the  Confederation  became  a  land-own- 
ing corporation.  The  aristocratic  factions  within  the  city 
developed  into  an  idle  body,  who  lived  upon  the  unearned 
increment  of  land,  or  the  pensions  received  from  foreign 
military  service.  It  made  no  difference  that  the  Swiss  peasants 
were  generally  allowed  to  remain  in  nominal  possession  of  the 
land  they  tilled  —  for  mortgages,  taxes,  and  personal  services 


2o  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

swallowed  up  this  apparent  advantage  and  made  their  position 
fully  as  miserable."  1 

This  sway  of  local  aristocracy  maintained  itself  through  the 
seventeenth  and  eighteenth  century,  crushing  with  ruthless 
severity  the  popular  uprising  in  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth 
century  known  as  the  Peasants'  War.  Differences  of  religion, 
race  and  industrial  interest,  prevented  the  union  of  these  can- 
tonal oligarchies  into  a  powerful  centralised  aristocratic  state, 
and  Switzerland,  devoid  as  yet  of  effective  nationality,  drifted 
into  a  new  subjection  to  the  neighbouring  power  which  had  dis- 
placed the  Empire.  The  formal  renunciation  of  her  allegiance 
to  the  German  Empire,  secured  in  1648  through  the  mediation 
of  France,  was  soon  followed  by  the  acceptance  of  what  was 
in  effect  the  suzerainty  of  France.  Under  the  protectorate  of 
Louis  XIV.  and  his  successors,  Switzerland  enjoyed  a  tolerable 
tranquillity  which,  during  the  eighteenth  century,  was  fruitful 
in  large  measures  of  internal  progress  in  agriculture,  commerce, 
and  education.  The  nationalising  forces,  however,  were  in 
complete  abeyance;  localism  was  paramount  everywhere,  not 
even  upon  such  matters  as  coinage  and  a  common  system  of 
weights  and  measures  was  co-operation  possible  between  the 
cantons. 

The  French  Revolution  roused  once  more  the  dormant  spirit 
alike  of  nationality  and  democracy.  The  invasion  of  Switzer- 
land by  the  armies  of  the  French  Directory,  in  1797,  found  the 
ruling  classes  hopelessly  at  variance,  but  the  majority  of  the 
common  people,  alike  in  the  cantons  and  the  subject  lands, 
favourable  to  the  new  gospel  of  liberty  and  equality.  Not 
equally  welcome,  however,  was  the  brand-new  highly  centralised 
"  Constitution  of  the  Helvetic  Republic,"  which  Napoleon 
sought  to  substitute  for  the  old  Confederation.  Ignoring  local 
sentiment  and  historic  traditions,  the  new  Constitution  made 
a  new  division  of  the  entire  country  into  eighteen  prefectures 

»  McCrackan,  p.  283. 


THE  GROWTH  OF  SWISS   DEMOCRACY        21 

with  " scientific"  frontiers,  and  provided  a  representative  na- 
tional government  endowed  with  power  to  demand  obligatory 
military  service  and  with  other  rights  of  "interference"  with 
local  and  individual  liberty  to  which  the  people  were  wholly 
unaccustomed. 

A  sharp  struggle  ensued  between  the  Federalists  and  the 
Centralists  regarding  the  limits  of  state  rights,  and  after  vari- 
ous remodellings,  Napoleon  again  intervened  in  1803  with  his 
Act  of  Mediation  containing  new  draft  constitutions  for  the 
Confederation  and  for  the  several  cantons. 

This  act  is  described  as  a  cross  between  the  historic  law  of 
Switzerland  and  the  philosophic  law  of  the  French  Republic. 

It  concedes  the  general  principle  of  the  sovereignty  of  the 
cantons.  "The  cantons  shall  exercise  all  the  powers  which 
have  not  been  expressly  delegated  to  the  federal  authority." 
On  the  other  hand,  it  imposes  the  complete  equalitarian  basis 
of  democracy  by  maintaining  "that  there  no  longer  exist  in 
Switzerland  either  subject  lands,  or  privileges  of  place,  birth, 
persons,  or  families." 

While  this  act  and  the  cantonal  constitutions  established 
under  it  were  short  lived,  disappearing  with  the  fall  of  Napoleon, 
the  liberation  of  the  subject  lands  and  their  establishment  as 
independent  cantons  added  five  new  states  to  the  Confedera- 
tion, viz.,  Aargau,  St.  Gall,  Ticino,  Thurgau,  and  Vaud. 
Three  more  cantons  were  created  by  the  Congress  of  Vienna 
in  181 5,  Geneva,  Neufchatel  and  Valais,  thus  completing 
the  tale  of  the  twenty-two  states  that  comprise  Switzerland  as 
she  stands  to-day. 

The  true  beginning  of  the  modern  democratic  Confederation 
of  Switzerland  is  to  be  found  in  the  Federal  Pact  of  August,  181 5, 
in  which  the  twenty-two  cantons  bound  themselves  to  a  Con- 
stitution establishing  a  permanent  Diet,  and  endowing  the  federal 
authority  with  formal  charge  not  merely  of  the  integrity  of 
the  country,  but  of  its  internal  order.     The  cantons  mutually 


22  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

guarantee   the   integrity  of  their  constitutions   and   of    their 
respective  territories ;  each  canton  has  one  vote  in  the  Diet. 

"For  important  decisions  (war,  peace,  or  alliances)  three 
fourths  of  the  votes  are  necessary.  In  all  other  matters  that  have 
been  declared  to  be  within  the  province  of  the  Diet  by  this 
present  Federal  Agreement  an  absolute  majority  is  sufficient." 
(Art.  8.) 

To  the  several  cantons  absolute  freedom  was  left  in  the  for- 
mation of  their  governments,  with  one  important  proviso : 

"The  Confederation  declares  this  principle  to  be  inviolable; 
that  since  the  twenty-two  cantons  have  been  formally  recog- 
nised as  such,  there  are  no  longer  in  Switzerland  any  subject 
countries,  and,  in  the  same  way,  the  enjoyment  of  political 
rights  can  never  in  any  canton  be  made  the  exclusive  privilege 
of  any  one  class  of  citizens."     (Art.  7.) 

The  weakness  of  this  federal  pact  soon  became  manifest. 
No  means  for  enforcing  its  authority  had  been  provided,  and 
the  reactionary  cantons  treated  the  democratic  safeguards 
with  open  defiance,  refusing  to  bring  their  constitutions  into 
conformity  with  its  requirements. 

This  unsatisfactory  condition  of  affairs  continued  until  the 
advent  of  another  revolutionary  wave  from  France.  The  Revo- 
lution of  1830  stirred  the  burghers  of  a  number  of  cantons  to 
demand  a  liberal  revision  of  their  Constitution,  a  demand  which 
was  successfully  enforced  in  most  of  the  cantons  during  1830 
and  1 83 1.  These  local  successes  of  the  liberals  led  to  a  further 
demand  for  a  revision  of  the  Federal  Constitution,  and  thus 
again  grievous  trouble  arose.  In  March,  1832,  the  seven  can- 
tons, Lucerne,  Zurich,  Solothurm,  St.  Gall,  Aargau,  Thurgau, 
entered  an  agreement  for  mutual  defence  of  their  revised  con- 
stitutions, known  as  the  Siebner  Konkordat.  This  was  the 
first  step  in  separation,  and  was  followed  by  a  more  important 
movement  on  the  part  of  seven  conservative  cantons  who  with- 
drew from  the  Federal  Diet,  Uri,  Schwyz,  Unterwalden,  Lucerne, 


THE  GROWTH  OF  SWISS  DEMOCRACY        23 

Zug,  Freiburg,  and  Valais,  forming  a  separate  confederation, 
the  League  of  Sarnen.  This  revolt  was  temporarily  crushed 
by  the  use  of  federal  force,  but  the  political  animosity,  fed  by 
bitter  religious  controversies,  continued  to  smoulder  until  in  1845, 
a  new  league  of  seven  conservative  Catholic  cantons,  Lucerne, 
Uri,  Schwyz,  Unterwalden,  Zug,  Freibourg,  and  Valais,  known 
as  the  Sonderbund,  entered  upon  a  formal  act  of  secession,  ac- 
companied by  mutual  pledges  of  armed  defence,  against  federal 
compulsion,  even  appealing  to  Austria  for  help.  A  short  shaip 
conflict  occurred  in  which  the  secessionist  forces  were  defeated 
and  the  federal  power  triumphantly  vindicated. 

The  struggle  was  on  a  miniature  scale  a  replica  of  the  Ameri- 
can Civil  War,  a  last  attempt  of  the  old  conservative  state  rights 
aristocrats  to  resist  the  reforming  centralising  tendencies  of  the 
modern  civilised  nationality.  Fortunately  the  war  was  short 
and  attended  by  small  loss  of  life  and  destruction  of  property.1 

The  necessity  of  strengthening  the  federal  power  was  recog- 
nised in  the  reconstruction  of  the  Constitution  in  1848.  Tak- 
ing the  American  Federal  Constitution  as  their  rough  model  the 
Swiss  now  converted  their  loose  Confederation  into  a  federal 
state,  an  organised  nationality,  controlled  by  two  Houses,  one 
representing  the  body  of  Swiss  citizens  in  their  individual 
capacity,  the  other  representing  the  cantons,  the  agreement  of 
the  two  Houses  being  essential  for  legislation. 

The  area  of  federal  government  was  considerably  enlarged: 
the  post-office,  coinage,  weights  and  measures  were  placed  under 
its  charge;  the  cantons  surrendered  the  right  to  levy  cantonal 
customs  at  their  frontiers;  the  entire  control  of  foreign  relations 
was  vested  in  the  federal  government,  which  likewise  divided 

1  The  comparative  humanity,  which  distinguished  Swiss  warfare  from  the 
beginning,  is  exemplified  in  the  order  issued  to  the  Union  Army  ending  with 
these  words,  "Take  all  the  defenceless  under  your  protection;  do  not  allow 
them  to  be  insulted  or  mishandled.  Destroy  nothing  unnecessarily;  waste 
nothing;  in  a  word,  conduct  yourselves  in  such  a  manner  as  to  win  respect, 
ai  d  to  show  yourselves  worthy  of  the  name  you  bear." 


24  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

with  the  cantonal  government  the  national  defence,  education, 
public  works,  and  police.  Not  less  important,  the  federal  gov- 
ernment guaranteed  the  elementary  liberties  of  all  citizens,  rights 
of  settlement,  freedom  of  speech,  assembly,  press,  and  religious 
practices.1 

This  new  Constitution  was  adopted  in  September,  1848,  by 
fifteen  and  a  half  cantons  against  seven,  and  by  a  majority  of 
the  voters. 

What  may  be  regarded  as  the  final  definitive  form  of  the 
Swiss  Federal  Constitution  was  not,  however,  reached  until 
1874,  when  a  general  revision  of  the  document  of  1848  was 
adopted.  Although  this  revision  made  no  new  theoretic  re- 
apportionment of  power  between  federal  and  cantonal  govern- 
ment, by  its  fuller  application  of  the  principles  of  1848,  it  gave 
considerable  additions  to  the  actual  functions  of  the  federal 
government.  More  important,  however,  was  the  embodiment 
of  a  provision  that  all  federal  laws  shall  be  submitted  to  the 
vote  of  the  people  for  their  acceptance  or  rejection. 

This  "  referendum"  article  reads  as  follows,  Art.  89 :  "Federal 
laws  shall  be  submitted  for  the  acceptance  or  rejection  of  the 
people  if  the  demand  is  made  by  30,000  active  citizens  or  by 
eight  cantons.  The  same  principle  applies  to  federal  decrees 
which  have  a  general  application  and  which  are  not  of  an  urgent 
character." 

The  new  Constitution  was  accepted  by  340,199  votes  against 
198,013,  and  by  thirteen  and  a  half  cantons  (Zurich,  Berne, 
Glarus,  Solothurm,  Bale  city,  Bale  rural,  Schaffhausen,  Appen- 
zell  (A.  R.),  St.  Gall,  Grisons,  Aargau,  Thurgau,  Vaud,  Neuf- 
chatel,  Geneva).  It  was  rejected  by  eight  cantons  (Lucerne, 
Uri,  Schwyz,  Unterwalden,  Zug,  Freiburg,  Appenzell,  (I.  R.), 
Ticino,  Valais.) 

The  cantonal  division  was  upon  religious  lines,  the  minority 

1  The  last  liberty  was  qualified  by  the  expulsion  of  the  Jesuits  and  their 
affiliated  societies  from  Switzerland. 


THE  GROWTH  OF  SWISS   DEMOCRACY        25 

being  entirely  Catholic.  About  eighty-five  per  cent  of  the 
qualified  voters  went  to  the  poll. 

One  other  constitutional  change  has  to  be  recorded.  Accord- 
ing to  the  Constitution  of  1848,  the  people  had  the  right  of 
demanding  by  a  vote  of  50,000  the  submission  of  the  Federal 
Constitution  to  a  revision.  It  was  supposed  that  the  right  of 
initiative  was  applicable  to  the  revision  of  particular  articles 
as  well  as  to  a  general  revision  of  the'  Constitution.  The  federal 
authorities,  however,  interpreted  the  article  of  1848  so  as  to 
exclude  such  partial  revisions,  and  insisted  that,  when  the  re- 
vision of  any  part  of  the  Constitution  was  demanded  by  the 
popular  vote,  the  referendum  should  be  placed  before  the  people 
in  the  general  form,  "  Ought  the  Federal  Constitution  to  be 
revised?" 

The  struggle  for  a  popular  initiative  for  partial  revision  was 
carried  on  for  several  years  in  the  Federal  Council  and  the 
Federal  Assembly,  the  chief  contest  being  waged  not  over  the 
principle  of  the  proposed  reform,  but  over  the  method  of  ex- 
pressing the  initiative.  The  question  was,  whether  the  popular 
initiative  should  embody  in  general  terms  the  nature  of  the 
proposed  partial  revision,  or  should  express  the  desired  reform 
in  the  shape  of  a  formal  bill. 

The  issue  was  eventually  decided  in  the  more  liberal  sense  by 
a  vote  of  the  people  and  the  cantons  taken  July  5,  1891.  The 
voting  was  181,882  Ayes  and  120,372  Noes.  Only  four  cantons 
showed  a  majority  against  the  decree,  viz.,  Aargau,  Thurgau, 
Vaud,  and  the  two  half  cantons  of  Bale  (rural)  and  Appenzell 
(A.  R.). 

The  decree  became  Article  121  of  the  Constitution,  and  en- 
abled a  popular  initiative  for  partial  amendment  to  shape  itself 
either  in  the  form  of  general  suggestions  or  of  finished  bills.  If 
the  initiative  takes  the  more  general  form  the  formulation  of 
the  desired  amendment  rests  with  the  Assembly;  if  the  Assembly 
agrees  with  the  proposal  it  frames  the  complete  amendment, 


26  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

which  is  then  submitted  to  a  referendum  of  the  people  and  the 
cantons  for  acceptance  or  rejection;  if  the  Assembly  disagrees 
with  the  proposal,  then  the  question  whether  after  all  there  shall 
be  a  partial  amendment  is  once  more  submitted  to  the  people, 
an  affirmative  vote  being  thus  taken  as  an  instruction  to  the 
Assembly  to  take  the  matter  in  hand. 

When,  however,  the  initiative  takes  shape  in  a  complete  bill, 
and  the  Federal  Assembly  agrees,  the  bill  is  directly  referred 
to  a  referendum  of  the  people  and  the  cantons.  If  the  Federal 
Assembly  disagrees  with  the  bill,  it  can  substitute  a  bill  of  its 
own  or  a  motion  of  rejection,  and  can  submit  this  bill  or  motion 
along  with  the  people's  bill  in  the  referendum. 

The  adoption  of  this  "  formulated  initiative,"  as  it  is  called, 
was  represented  by  many  as  endowing  the  people  with  what 
was  virtually  the  power  to  introduce  new  laws  into  the  legis- 
lature, for  the  line  of  demarcation  between  such  a  proposal  of 
practical  amendment  and  a  new  statute  seemed  difficult  to 
draw.  But  though  several  important  amendments  by  means  of 
the  " formulated  initiative"  have  been  attempted  since  1891, 
only  one  has  been  successful,  a  measure  forbidding  the  slaughter 
of  animals  by  Jewish  methods. 

But  while  this  right  of  initiating  partial  amendments  of  the 
Federal  Constitution  has  not  given  to  the  body  of  citizens  all 
that  was  hoped  by  some  and  feared  by  others,  it  makes  an  im- 
portant advance  in  the  popular  power  of  direct  government. 

Since  1874  the  actual  functions  of  the  federal  government 
have  grown  considerably,  localism  yielding  in  many  directions 
to  federal  needs. 

The  monopoly  of  gunpowder  assumed  by  the  federal  govern- 
ment as  part  of  its  military  system  has  been  followed  by  a 
monopoly  of  the  manufacture  and  a  federal  control  over  the 
supply  of  alcohol;  laws  regulating  the  manufacture  and  sale  of 
matches,  and  the  manufacture  of  gold  and  silver  wares,  have 
brought  these  trades  under  federal  control;  gambling  houses 


THE  GROWTH  OF  SWISS  DEMOCRACY        27 

have  been  subjected  to  federal  prohibition.  A  still  more  impor- 
tant federal  advance  is  the  adoption  of  a  network  of  factory 
laws  and  regulations  enforced  by  federal  inspection  and  the 
adoption  of  federal  laws  dealing  with  contracts  and  bankruptcy. 
Patents,  copyrights,  and  trade-marks  are  also  brought  under 
federal  control.  The  development  of  the  postal  and  telegraph 
system  and  of  national  roads  has  led  up  to  the  largest  of  all 
the  federal  experiments,  the  acquisition  and  working  by  the 
nation  of  the  main  railroad  system  of  the  country. 

As  a  part  of  the  national  monetary  system,  the  central  govern- 
ment inspects  and  controls  banks  of  issue,  regulates  the  cir- 
culation of  notes,  the  reserve  fund  method  of  redemption,  and 
circulation  of  reports.  By  a  constitutional  amendment  of  1890, 
it  has  assumed  the  power  to  establish  invalid  and  accident  in- 
surance, though  no  practical  proposal  for  the  exercise  of  this 
right  has  yet  received  the  sanction  of  the  people.  Although 
the  education  of  the  people  still  remains  for  the  most  part  in  the 
hands  of  the  cantons,  the  federal  government  expends  consider- 
able sums  on  the  encouragement  of  learning. 

While  no  power  is  vested  in  the  federal  government  to  impose 
direct  taxes  on  Swiss  citizens,1  the  right  to  call  upon  the  cantons 
for  contributions  according  to  their  respective  ability  to  pay  has 
been  formulated  in  a  carefully  constructed  schedule,  though 
this  federal  tax  has  never  yet  been  actually  imposed. 

The  federal  debt  up  to  the  period  of  the  nationalisation  of  the 
railroads  was  extremely  light,  amounting  to  no  more  than  about 
fifteen  francs  per  caput.  The  purchase  of  the  railroads,  adding 
975)658,650  francs  ($195, 131,53c)2  to  the  debt,  has  given  im- 
mensely increased  importance  to  the  system  of  national  finance, 
though  the  railroad  account  is  in  form  kept  separately. 

The  real  significance  of  these  extensions  of  the  power  of 
federal  government  can  only  be  understood  when  we  consider 

1  The  Military  Exemption  Tax  may  be  regarded  as  an  exception. 

2  Throughout  this  book  the  value  of  a  franc  is  given  as  20  cents. 


28  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

in  detail  the  relations  between  cantonal  and  central  govern- 
ment.   At  present  it  is  sufficient  to  note  the  general  tendency. 

This  slight  historic  sketch  has  had  for  its  aim  to  indicate  the 
slow,  gradual,  but  persistent  play  of  the  federative  force  acting 
upon  a  people  whose  physical  environment  and  character  bred 
in  them  strong  habits  of  local  independence.  Co-operating 
with  this  federative  force,  tempering,  directing,  sometimes 
stimulating  it,  we  see  the  spirit  of  democracy,  the  instinct  for 
the  sovereignty  of  the  people  flowing  from  the  life  of  the  village 
commune,  its  original  home,  into  the  larger  political  area  of  the 
canton,  and  hence  slowly  moulding  the  forms  of  the  national 
federation.  Everywhere,  in  the  commune,  the  canton,  the  Con- 
federation, the  persistent  dominant  desire  of  the  people  to  retain 
direct  control  over  specific  acts  of  government,  and  to  refuse 
plenary  powers  to  elected  representatives,  gives  special  charac- 
ter to  Swiss  democracy. 


CHAPTER  III 


THE  COMMUNE 


The  distinctive  feature  in  Swiss  democracy  which  has  attracted 
,  the  attention  of  other  nations  that  have  committed  themselves 
v  to  government  by  the  people  is  the  attitude  adopted  by  the 
Swiss  towards  representative  institutions.  The  complexity  of 
the  machinery  of  legislation  in  modern  states  and  the  large 
populations  comprised  in  the  area  of  government  have  seemed 
to  many  statesmen  and  political  thinkers  to  disable  the  people 
more  and  more  from  the  direct  exercise  of  their  judgment  in 
law  making  or  other  determinate  acts  of  government,  and  to 
oblige  them  to  leave  more  and  more  to  the  discretion  of  men 
whom  from  time  to  time  they  elect  to  act  on  their  behalf.  Even 
in  the  smaller  political  areas,  the  parish,  district,  or  county,  the 
general  tendency  in  those  Anglo-Saxon  nations  where  democ- 
racy has  been  most  deeply  rooted,  has  been  towards  a  constant 
diminution  of  the  exercise  of  direct  government  by  the  body 
of  citizens  and  an  increased  delegation  of  governmental  powers 
to  elected  representatives  and  permanent  officials. 

That  certain  considerable  dangers  are  associated  with  the 
extension  of  representative  institutions  and  the  accompanying 
bureaucracy  is  not  to  be  denied.  The  liability  of  the  popular 
will  to  be  thwarted  in  particular  acts  of  policy  is  of  course 
essential  to  the  process  of  representation,  and  the  advocates  of 
this  system  regard  the  substitution  of  the  judgment  of  well- 
informed  and  discreet  representatives  for  that  of  the  relatively 
ill-informed  and  thoughtless  multitude  as  a  chief  advantage 
of  representative  government. 

But  the  evils  of  misrepresentation  through  party,  class,  or 

29 


3o  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

individual  prejudices,  the  domination  of  special  economic 
interests,  the  growth  of  the  machine  and  its  professional  opera- 
tions with  the  development  of  a  spoils  system  and  other  forms 
of  "graft,"  are  well-recognised  defects  of  representative  govern- 
ment. Those  who  regard  the  extension  and  the  increasing 
complication  of  representative  institutions  as  alike  inevitable 
and  desirable,  while  lamenting  these  defects  do  not  admit 
them  to  be  inherent  in  the  representative  system,  but  regard 
them  as  imperfections  due  to  the  unintelligent  working  of  that 
system,  which  the  education  of  a  better  popular  intelligence 
and  a  keener  public  spirit  will  gradually  remove. 

Now  the  modern  trend  of  Swiss  democracy  is  a  direct  chal- 
lenge to  this  position,  challenging  alike  the  alleged  inevitabil- 
ity of  the  disappearance  of  direct  popular  government,  and  its 
desirability.     Subjected  to  the  same  tendency  as  other  states 
under  the  conditions  of  modern  industry  and  modern  govern- 
mental needs  to  substitute  centralised  and  representative  for 
local  and  direct  government,  it  has  refused  to  commit  itself 
to  the  domination  of  this  tendency,  everywhere  insisting  upon  the 
retention  and  even  the  extension  of  the  forms  and  substance  of 
"pure  democracy."    Admitting  representation  for  certain  pur- 
poses and  within  certain  limits  it  has  called  a  "halt,"  en- 
deavouring to  secure  an  effective  equilibrium  between  the  uses 
of  direct  and  representative  government. 
r  Everywhere  in  the  political  life  of  the  commune,  the  can- 
ton, the  federation,  we  trace  the  same  persistent  struggle  to 
■    maintain  an  adequate  voice  in  concrete  acts  of  government 
\    for  the  ordinary  citizen  and  for  the  "general  will"  as  expressed 
- -through  the  vote  of  the  majority. 

Nowhere  is  there  a  denial  of  the  representative  system, 
everywhere  it  has  a  certain  play,  but  everywhere  we  find  the 
same  insistence  in  retaining  for  the  direct  judgment  of  the 
people  the  final  determination  of  those  acts  which  vitally  con- 
cern the  welfare  of  the  Commonwealth. 


THE  COMMUNE  31 

As  we  study  the  application  of  these  checks  upon  represen- 
tation we  shall  recognise  that  they  are  conceived  in  no  merely 
blind  spirit  of  distrust  and  obstruction  to  the  operation  of  the 
representative  forms,  but  that  they  are  adopted  with  consider- 
able skill  as  safeguards  against  the  different  sorts  of  misrepre- 
sentation to  which  a  people  is  liable  under  conditions  of 
modern  government. 

In  general  we  shall  recognise  that  the  people  retains  the 
largest  powers  of  direct  government  in  the  control  of  their 
communal  life,  that  in  the  larger  area  of  the  canton  represen- 
tation takes  a  larger  share,  and  that,  of  the  powers  committed 
to  the  federal  government,  the  representative  councils  and 
the  expert  officials  exercise  a  still  larger  part,  though  every- 
where for  the  most  important  public  judgments  the  direct  and 
specific  consent  of  the  people  must  be  got.  It  will  also  be 
recognised  that  the  elasticity  of  constitutional  forms  in  Switzer- 
land is  such  as  to  preclude  an  inconvenient  rigidity  in  this 
system  of  checks  upon  the  representative  principle:  where 
more  power  is  required  for  the  effective  working  of  the  repre- 
sentative or  the  bureaucratic  forms  of  government,  it  can  be 
procured  from  the  people  with  a  facility  which  will  appear 
remarkable  as  contrasted  with  the  difficulties  that  confront 
reforms  of  a  corresponding  nature  in  the  United  States. 

Since  Swiss,  as  indeed  every  other  democracy,  is  rooted  in 
the  spirit  and  the  customs  of  local  groups  of  citizens  whom 
physical  environment  and  economic  necessity  compel  to  live 
in  close  proximity  and  to  act  in  common,  it  is  to  the  thousands 
of  little  communes  which  to-day  survive  as  living  realities  in 
Switzerland  that  we  shall  turn  for  an  explanation  of  the  inten- 
sity of  that  passion  for  an  immediate  personal  participation  in 
"public  life"  which  is  the  force  that  especially  interests  us  here. 
It  is  this  passion  for  direct  exercise  of  individual  volition  in 
the  affairs  of  the  Commonwealth  upon  equal  terms  with  one's 
fellow  citizens  that  underlies  not  only  what  is  here  called  the 


32  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

direct  government  of  the  popular  assembly  in  the  commune 
or  the  canton,  the  "constituent  assembly"  for  revision  of  the 
constitution,  the  exercise  of  the  referendum  or  the  initiative  in 
cantonal  or  federal  government,  but  also  the  direct  election  of 
a  second  chamber,  in  most  of  the  cantons,  the  regulations  for 
proportionate  representation  in  elections  and  the  strict  limita- 
tions set  upon  the  legislative  and  executive  powers  of  the  Presi- 
dent, whether  of  a  communal,  cantonal,  or  federal  assembly. 

The  physical  conformation  of  the  greater  part  of  Switzer- 
land, as  we  have  seen,  imposed  upon  the  little  scattered  groups 
of  rural  inhabitants  a  degree  of  economic  and  social  self- 
dependence  far  greater  than  is  found  in  countries  where  means 
of  communication  encourage  wider  intercourse.  The  dwellers 
in  each  valley,  cut  off  from  all  contact  with  their  neighbours 
during  a  large  portion  of  the  year,  and  thrown  upon  their  own 
resources  for  the  supply  of  all  the  necessaries  of  life  and  for 
dealing  with  the  emergencies  of  a  rigorous  climate,  were  com- 
pelled to  discover  and  maintain  habits  and  institutions  of  self- 
sufficiency  and  co-operative  action.  Not  only  defence  against 
invaders  from  without  and  disorders  within,  but  provision 
against  the  ravages  of  nature  and  a  careful  economy  of  the 
limited  resources  of  the  land  at  their  disposal,  were  essential 
to  the  maintenance  of  the  life  of  such  communities.  The 
separateness,  seclusion,  and  self-sufficiency  of  these  rural  groups 
served,  as  we  saw,  to  preserve  alive  the  units  of  communal 
self-government  during  periods  of  history  when  the  freedom  of 
the  state  had  perished. 

Before  the  Swiss  Confederacy  had  attained  any  full  organic 
life,  while  the  cantons  were  subjected  to  various  forms  of  aris- 
tocratic government,  the  actual  control  of  their  local  affairs 
(the  most  vital  issues  in  the  ordinary  life  of  the  mass  of  the 
people)  remained  for  the  most  part  in  the  hands  of  the  inhab- 
itants of  the  communes.  Though  local  lords,  lay  or  spiritual, 
and  in  the  later  middle  ages  conquering  cantons  and  their 


THE  COMMUNE  33 

ruling  oligarchies,  would  make  forcible  encroachments  by  fines, 
rents,  and  other  impositions  upon  the  communes  of  subject 
states,  the  normal  practice  of  local  self-government  always 
survived. 

If  we  would  understand  the  strength  and  the  comparative 
purity  of  Swiss  democracy  in  its  wider  institutions  of  cantonal 
and  federal  government,  we  must  look  to  the  vigour  and  per- 
sistence of  the  communes  which  form  the  cells  of  the  larger 
social  organism. 

This  local  government  of  the  commune  or  Gemeinde  finds 
its  origin,  of  course,  in  the  association  of  neighbouring  farmers 
known  in  all  countries  of  Germanic  settlement  as  the  mark. 
As  in  Germany  itself,  and  in  England,  so  in  German  Switzer- 
land, the  same  forces  of  self-protection,  economy  of  resources, 
and  material  aid,  built  solid  forces  of  self-government  accom- 
modated to  the  needs  of  the  several  groups. 

Under  primitive  conditions  rural  government  and  politics 
must  always  centre  in  the  tenure  and  cultivation  of  the  land, 
as  in  the  earlier  towns  they  centre  in  the  regulations  of  the 
crafts.  So  in  order  to  understand  the  peculiar  strength  of 
local  democracy  in  Switzerland,  we  must  realise  the  greater 
continuity  and  survival  of  certain  features  of  rural  economy 
which  in  most  advanced  nations  have  passed  out  of  existence. 

The  survival  of  large  elements  of  communal  property  in 
many  parts  of  Switzerland  administered  by  the  body  of  the 
members  of  the  commune,  or  by  large  corporations  within  the 
communes,  for  the  common  good,  plays  a  most  important  part 
in  the  maintenance  of  local  democracy  and  the  determination 
of  its  forms.  ^/Though  the  commune  in  a  German-Swiss  can- 
ton closely  resembles  in  general  structure  the  New  England 
township,  there  exists  in  the  latter  no  binding  force  so  power- 
ful as  that  conferred  upon  the  former  by  the  administration 
of  the  communal  property. 

This   communal  property  or  allmend   seems  originally  to 


34  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

have  consisted  chiefly  in  the  pasture  and  woodlands,  which 
always  remain  undivided  in  primitive  settlements,  and  which 
furnish  free  timber  and  feeding  for  cows  and  pigs  belonging 
to  the  peasants.  Gradually,  as  methods  of  cultivation  im- 
proved, pieces  of  land  were  marked  off  for  plantations,  gardens, 
meadows,  vineyards,  still,  however,  remaining  in  common 
ownership.  Even  lands  allotted  for  building  purposes  were 
kept  in  the  allmend,  though  the  usure  of  all  such  lands  passed 
into  individual  hands. 

Originally  all  share  in  the  communal  property  seems  to  have 
been  confined  to  local  landowners,  the  body  of  peasants,  though 
later  on  the  right  was  found  attached  to  the  owners  of  certain 
houses  whether  they  were  farmers  or  not.  Still  later  a  third 
type  of  participant  is  found  resting  on  a  purely  personal  or 
inherited  qualification,  chiefly  in  the  town  communes  and  in 
certain  mountain  communes. 

In  fact,  however,  a  great  variety  of  different  qualifications 
for  participation  in  communal  property  prevailed  in  different 
parts  of  the  country,  and  the  regulations  for  the  use  of  such 
property  varied  greatly.  For  our  purpose  it  is  sufficient  to 
observe  that  in  the  course  of  time  this  group  of  original  com- 
munal owners  became  identified  with  the  wider  body  of  burghers, 
which  included  householders  who  were  not  by  ancient  usage 
entitled  to  full  communal  rights.  The  expansion  of  the  nar- 
rower into  the  wider  community  seems  to  have  begun  in  the 
sixteenth  and  not  to  have  reached  its  completion  until  the  nine- 
teenth century,  admitting  the  body  of  settled  householders 
into  full  communal  rights.  The  movement  originated  in  the 
adoption  of  cantonal  laws  which  threw  the  charge  of  the  poor 
and  vagrants  upon  the  several  communes.  This  charge, 
imposed  upon  local  householders  or  burghers,  was  defrayed 
by  certain  provisions  of  lands  out  of  the  communal  property, 
the  administration  of  these  lands  passing  over  to  the  burghers. 
Thus,  partly  by  reason  of  the  encroachments  on  the  com- 


THE  COMMUNE  35 

munal  property  due  to  the  growing  expenses  of  providing  for 
the  poor,  partly  by  a  general  extension  of  the  power  of  house- 
holders, the  bulk  of  the  communal  rights  had  passed  to  the 
burgher  population. 

But  the  evolution  of  the  commune  did  not  stop  here.  Even 
under  the  old  order,  it  had  been  permissible  for  the  commune 
to  admit  outsiders  to  acquire  settlement  with  communal  rights 
on  payment  of  a  sum  of  money.  This  practice,  rare  in  older 
times,  became  a  more  or  less  settled  policy  among  the  burgher 
Gemeinde,  though  the  new  burghers  were  commonly  precluded 
from  a  share  in  the  communal  property. 

But  with  the  more  mobile  conditions  of  modern  life  the  new 
settlers  both  in  towns  and  villages  became  a  larger  proportion 
of  the  population,  and  during  the  last  three  generations  they 
have  acquired  not  only  a  certain  status  in  the  commune  but 
control  over  parts  of  the  communal  property  allotted  to  meet 
the  general  requirements  of  local  government.  As  the  func- 
tions of  local  government  have  multiplied,  so  a  larger  practical 
share  in  public  affairs  has  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  body 
of  residents,  including  not  only  the  original  owners  and  the 
burghers  but  the  inhabitants  as  a  whole.  At  the  same  time 
it  is  far  from  being  the  case  that  the  original  property  of 
the  commune  has  passed  under  the  free  and  full  control  of 
the  local  democracy.  Even  the  earlier  encroachments  of  the 
burghers  were  often  successfully  resisted  by  the  little  town  or 
village  aristocracies  which  had  acquired  exclusive  rights  in  the 
communal  property,  and  when  during  the  middle  of  the  nine- 
teenth century  the  new  "political"  communes,  comprising  all 
the  inhabitants,  endeavoured  to  assert  the  wider  public  rights, 
they  were  in  many  instances  defeated  by  the  close  corporations 
of  the  burghers. 

In  the  canton  of  Berne,  for  example,  the  latter  were  able 
to  retain  almost  intact  their  ancient  rights  of  property.  In  the 
greater  part  of  the  plain  villages  the  burghers  formed  them- 


36  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

selves  into  close  private  corporations,  and  sometimes,  as  in 
canton  Berne,  have  sold  and  divided  among  their  members 
the  communal  property.  Further  detraction  from  the  com- 
mon lands  took  place  in  early  times  when  the  meadows,  gar- 
dens, vineyards,  and  other  enclosures  were  allowed  to  pass  into 
the  private  ownership  of  the  occupants  to  whom  their  use  alone 
had  been  allotted. 

But  though  the  economic  side  of  local  democracy  is  very 
incomplete,  large  shares  of  the  public  lands  remaining  in  the 
hands  of  private  corporations,  while  the  burgher  commu- 
nities often  form  an  inner  ring,  reserving  to  themselves  large 
funds  of  public  wealth  and  the  administration  of  the  same,  it 
remains  none  the  less  true  that  the  existence  of  local  properties, 
held  in  common  by  large  sections  or  the  entire  body  politic, 
and  employed  in  large  measure  for  public  purposes,  has  been 
a  powerful  bond  of  attachment  between  the  Swiss  citizen  and 
his  birthplace,  and  has  furnished  a  continuous  and  a  valuable 
education  in  the  art  of  democratic  local  government.  For  of 
the  2706  communes  *  almost  all  possess  some  land,  some  forest 
and  some  water  rights,  which,  whether  it  is  allmend  and  con- 
trolled by  the  economic  corporation,  or  is  communal  in  the 
fuller  sense,  appreciably  contributes  to  the  maintenance  of 
the  community. 

Where  the  allmend  is  held  by  and  for  the  whole  burgher 
population,  or  even  where,  remaining  in  the  hands  of  a  narrower 
section  representing  the  original  landowners,  it  is  allocated  to 
public  purposes,  it  furnishes  a  genuine  support  to  local  auton- 
omy. This  in  two  ways.  The  common  lands,  forest,  meadow 
and  cultivated  fields,  are  apportioned  in  equal  quantities  to 
commoners  who  possess  an  inalienable  right  to  their  share  in 
the  free  use  of  these  lands,  as  well  as  in  other  incidental  priv- 
ileges. Except  where  towns  or  special  industrial  values  have 
grown  in  their  neighbourhood,   these  communal  rights  may 

1  1352  German,  945  French,  291  Italian,  and  118  in  the  Grisons. 


THE  COMMUNE  37 

seldom  furnish  a  considerable  income,  still  less  a  sufficient  sup- 
port, but  for  a  large  section  of  Swiss  citizens  they  form  an 
appreciable  and  highly  valued  addition  to  their  livelihood. 
Not  less  important,  perhaps,  the  allmend  meets  the  chief  ex- 
penses of  public  services,  maintaining  or  helping  to  main- 
tain the  police,  the  roads,  the  school,  the  church,  and  thus 
reducing  to  a  minimum  the  need  of  local  taxation.  Last,  not 
least,  the  allmend  secures  to  every  burgher  a  decent  mainte- 
nance in  old  age  as  a  right,  not  as  a  charity. 

So  far  as  the  value  to  individuals  and  members  of  a  share 
in  the  communal  property  is  concerned,  it  differs  very  widely. 
In  some  places  it  is  worth  several  hundred  francs  per  annum, 
in  others  it  has  shrunk  to  nothing.1 

But  though  communal  property  still  plays  a  not  unimportant 
part  in  the  economic  life  of  Switzerland,  that  part  is  constantly 
diminishing.  The  growing  demands  upon  the  burgher  prop- 
erty for  poor  relief  has  in  many  districts  greatly  reduced  the 
share  of  the  individual  members,  while  considerations  of 
modern  agricultural  economy  are  tending  to  convert  communal 
into  individual  property.  A  large  number  of  burghers  are 
non-residents  and  are  careless  about  the  administration  of  the 
allmend;  the  growth  of  capitalistic  enterprise  has  reduced 
the  relative  importance  of  the  land;  and  the  increased  mobil- 
ity both  of  the  business  and  the  labouring  classes  has  broken 
down  the  social  solidarity  of  the  commune.  Many  hold  that 
as  a  distinctively  economic  structure  the  commune  has  done 
its  work,  and  that  the  allmend  as  a  basis  of  support  for  in- 
dividual burghers  must  disappear;  it  is,  they  contend,  a  hin- 
drance to  good  cultivation,  a  discouragement  to  thrift  and 
industry,  and  a  stimulus  to  early  and  improvident  marriages. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  conservative  attachment  to  ancient 

1  An  official  return  for  canton  Berne  in  1893  showed  that  of  448  burgher 
corporations,  34  distributed  nothing;  216  less  than  50  francs;  152  from  50  to 
100  francs;  41  from  100  to  200  francs;  and  5  over  200  francs. 


38  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

usages  is  re-enforced  in  the  eyes  of  many  by  the  belief  that, 
so  long  as  the  communal  property  remains  intact,  it  tends  to 
modify  the  rigour  of  the  factory  system  which  draws  its  labour 
in  such  industrial  cantons  as  Glarus,  St.  Gall,  Appenzell,  and 
Aargau,  not  from  a  mere  floating  proletariat,  but  from  a  popu- 
lation which  still  retains  a  certain  definite  stake  in  their  native 
soil  and  a  corresponding  measure  of  economic  independence. 
While,  as  we  have  pointed  out,  a  certain  process  of  erosion  has 
been  taking  place,  it  cannot  be  said  that  a  policy  of  disintegra- 
tion of  the  communal  property  has  any  present  prospect  of 
adoption.  The  prevalent  sentiment  of  the  Swiss  people 
supports  the  declaration  embodied  in  the  Constitution 
of  the  Helvetic  Republic  of  1799,  forbidding  the  partition 
of  communal  lands  on  the  ground  that  "these  lands  are 
the  inheritance  of  your  fathers,  the  fruit  of  many  years  of 
toil  and  care,  and  belong  not  to  you  alone,  but  also  to  your 
descendants." 

On  the  whole  the  tendency  is  to  reduce  the  hereditary  and 
other  personal  claims  of  burgher  families  upon  the  communal 
property,  and  to  apply  to  its  use  a  fuller  modern  interpretation 
of  public  welfare.  Where  a  primitive  commune  has  devel- 
oped into  a  large  modern  industrial  city,  common  considera- 
tions of  equity  and  public  interest  demand  that  the  communal 
property  shall  be  preserved  and  applied  to  the  large  general 
purposes  of  a  developed  municipality.  Hence  it  has  come  to 
pass  that  in  such  municipalities  as  Berne,  Zurich,  and  Bale 
we  find  a  rich  array  of  public  services  founded  and  financed 
in  large  measure  from  the  original  allmend,  though  the  direct 
administration  of  the  property  largely  remains  in  the  hands 
of  a  private  or  semi-public  corporation.  The  new  education, 
not  so  much  in  formal  socialism,  which  is  perhaps  weaker  in 
Switzerland  than  in  other  European  countries,  but  in  social- 
istic sentiments  and  ideas,  is  evoking  in  the  great  centres  of 
culture  and  industry  a  conscious  policy  for  the  full  municipal- 


THE  COMMUNE  39 

isation  of  all  these  corporate  properties  as  the  proper  economic 
support  for  the  improved  civic  life. 

A  more  detailed  consideration  of  the  recent  social  develop- 
ments of  the  leading  Swiss  municipalities  will  show  how  im- 
portant a  part  is  played  by  the  survival  of  communal  property. 
Our  present  purpose,  however,  is  to  trace  the  structure  and 
the  strength  of  political  institutions  of  democracy  in  Switzer- 
land, and  this  excursion  into  the  subject  of  communal  property 
is  primarily  designed  to  explain  the  toughness  of  the  fibre  of 
local  institutions.  The  positive  or  relative  decline  of  the  eco- 
nomic self-sufficiency  of  the  village  commune  and  of  the  com- 
munal property  might  have  gone  further  towards  weakening 
the  commune  as  a  democratic  unit,  had  not  its  definitely  polit- 
ical functions  assumed  greater  importance  in  modern  times. 

Since  the  formation  of  the  Confederation  the  self-governing 
democratic  commune  has  obtained  an  increased  political 
significance  which  has  in  some  degree  compensated  its  eco- 
nomic decline.  It  is  recognised  alike  by  the  Confederation 
and  by  the  canton  as  the  true  unit  of  government  in  a  wider 
sense  than  in  any  other  civilised  country  of  modern  times. 
Not  merely  are  its  funds  larger  and  more  numerous,  but  its 
method  of  government  marks  it  out  as  a  peculiarly  serviceable 
instrument  in  the  education  of  Swiss  citizens  for  the  exercise 
of  their  civic  functions  in  the  wider  areas  of  state  and  federal 
government. 

The  powers  of  the  commune  in  what  may  be  termed  social 
policy  and  public  health  are  very  large.  Public  baths,  play- 
grounds, promenades,  public  kitchens,  libraries,  museums, 
theatres,  public  rooms;  poor  law,  insurance,  unemployed 
relief,  and  in  general  all  provision  for  the  weak,  sick  or  needy, 
commercial  and  industrial  institutes  and  a  variety  of  other 
economic  unions,  fall  within  the  competence  of  the  commune, 
though  naturally  only  the  larger  and  richer  communes  fully 
develop  these  resources.    A  large  part  of  the  administration 


4o  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE  ^ 

of  the  school  system  is  vested  in  the  commune,  though  here  a 
special  school  commune  is  usually  formed,  which  does  its 
work  partly  by  co-operation  with  neighbouring  communes  to 
form  a  district,  partly  under  the  control  and  with  the  subven- 
tion of  the  canton. 

The  commune  is  also  a  police  centre  responsible  for  the 
protection  of  life,  property,  and  public  order,  and  possesses  a 
considerable  variety  of  taxing  and  borrowing  powers  which, 
though  nominally  subject  to  cantonal  control,  leave  a  far 
larger  amount  of  financial  liberty  to  a  Swiss  commune  than  is 
usual  in  other  countries.  The  growing  tendency  to  supple- 
ment communal  finances  by  central  subventions  for  schools, 
public  buildings,  water  ways,  and  other  purposes,  is  however 
reducing  the  financial  self-sufficiency  of  the  commune  in  many 
cantons. 

Besides  these  self-regarding  duties  the  commune  has  to 
co-operate  in  various  police  affairs,  in  higher  and  technical  edu- 
cation, in  taxation,  and  in  other  departments  of  civil  govern- 
ment with  the  state  officials.  Finally,  the  commune  is  the  unit 
of  government  for  naturalisation  and  for  election  purposes 
within  the  canton.  When  in  addition  to  all  these  functions 
we  take  account  of  the  administration  of  the  communal  prop- 
erty and  the  church,  where,  as  in  the  smaller  communes,  the 
people  are  of  a  single  faith  so  that  the  Kirchen-Gemeinde  is 
identical  with  the  Einwohner-Gemeinde,  we  shall  recognise 
that  the  Swiss  commune  remains  a  powerful  political  struc- 
ture. Autonomous  in  the  strict  sense  it  is  not,  for  the  consti- 
tution of  the  canton  limits  its  rights  and  powers,  and  can 
modify  or  annul  them;  but  in  practice  the  commune  possesses 
a  large  measure  of  independence  in  matters  vitally  affecting 
the  lives  of  its  inhabitants,  and  affords  great  scope  for  experi- 
ments in  constructive  democracy. 

For  the  entire  government  of  the  commune  rests  in  most 
cantons  upon  a  basis  of  pure  and  direct  democracy,  the  legisla- 


THE  COMMUNE  41 

tive,  executive,  and  financial  powers  being  derived  from  the 
direct  vote  of  the  full  assembly  of  citizens.  It  is  the  New 
England  township,  the  English  parish  meeting,  but  endowed 
with  a  far  larger  measure  of  practical  self-government. 

The  following  account  of  the  structure  of  communal  govern- 
ment is  from  the  pen  of  Dr.  Kistler,  State  Secretary  of  Berne:1 

"We  find  the  popular  commune  as  an  independent  structure 
in  all  the  Swiss  cantons  with  the  exception  of  Appenzell,  where 
the  public  functions  devolve  upon  the  district  government. 
Even  the  functions  which  the  commune  has  to  fulfil  are  generally 
the  same  all  over  and  differ  only  in  their  quantitative  relations. 
Moreover,  we  have  already  pointed  out  the  fact  that,  in  many 
places  where  particular  functions  require  fulfilment  within  the 
commune,  companies  are  created  which  exhibit  an  independent 
organisation  of  their  own  and  so  come  also  to  be  described  as 
communes.  As  a  communal  function  which  most  usually 
claims  such  a  separate  organisation  we  find  the  school  system, 
chiefly  by  reason  of  the  fact  that  the  school  system  frequently 
fails  to  coincide  in  its  territorial  area  with  the  communal  limits. 
There  are  school  communes  which  embrace  the  area  of  several 
popular  communes,  and  in  other  instances  we  meet  with  sev- 
eral school  communes  within  the  same  popular  commune. 
Separate  school  communes  are  found  in  Zurich,  Berne,  Glarus, 
rural  Bale,  Appenzell  I.  Rh,  St.  Gall,  Thurgau.  We  meet 
also  with  the  same  feature  in  the  poor  law  system;  here,  how- 
ever, chiefly  because  the  charge  of  the  poor  has  everywhere 
been  an  outgrowth  of  the  burgher  commune.  But  here,  too, 
the  area  of  the  poor  law  commune  does  not  necessarily  coin- 
cide with  that  of  the  popular  commune.  Poor  law  communes 
are  recognised  in  Nidwalden  and  Glarus.  Other  branches  of 
government  also  betray  a  disposition  to  develop  similar  com- 
munal structures  of  their  own,  as  for  instance  the  services  of 
street   making,   waterworks,    and   lighting,   protection   against 

1  Handworterbuch  der  Schweizerischen  V olkswirthschaft,  II  Band,  ss.  233-6. 


42  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

floods.  Such  functions  are  undertaken  in  Zurich  by  the  so- 
called  civil  communes,  in  Thurgau  by  the  so-called  local  com- 
munes, the  former  of  which  have  more  of  a  personal  character 
resembling  the  burgher  communes,  while  the  latter  have  a 
purely  territorial  character.  In  the  case  of  the  Bernese  home- 
unions  (Schwellen-Genossenschaften),  in  spite  of  the  similarity 
of  their  objects  the  communal  character  is  less  marked.  In 
none  of  these  forms  is  a  territorial  coincidence  with  the  communal 
area  essential.  Corporations  for  the  exercise  of  political 
rights  constitute  the  so-called  political  communes  (St.  Gall) 
or  election  communes  (Glarus).  Finally,  in  Berne,  where  a 
church  commune  embraces  several  popular  communes,  the 
exercise  of  certain  governmental  departments  can  be  organ- 
ised on  the  church  basis.  The  communal  character  of  all 
these  structures  consists  in  a  more  or  less  independent  organ- 
isation.    They  possess  their  own  assemblies  and  officials. 

"As  organs  of  the  popular  commune,  we  have  to  take  into 
consideration  the  popular  Assembly,  the  Communal  Council, 
the  Communal  Resident  or  Gemeinde  Amman,  and  finally  the 
various  special  courts  and  officials. 

"The  popular  Assembly  consists  of  the  body  of  qualified 
voters  in  the  commune.  The  basis  of  qualification  everywhere 
lies  in  the  political  franchise,  though  in  certain  cantons  the 
qualification  depends  also  on  a  certain  length  of  residence  in 
Gemeinde.  Article  43  of  the  Federal  Constitution  lays  down, 
however,  the  regulation  that  the  requisite  length  of  residence 
shall  not  exceed  three  months.  The  Communal  Assembly 
does  its  business  in  most  places  at  fixed  meetings,  the  summon- 
ing, conduct,  and  modus  operandi  of  which  He  outside  our 
present  consideration.  In  certain  larger  places  the  Assembly 
with  public  discussion  has  given  way  to  a  simple  voting  upon 
the  proposals  of  the  communal  government  and  the  elections 
by  means  of  a  ballot.  The  proper  functions  of  the  Assembly 
consist  in  passing  of  regulations,  with  the  exception  of  special 


THE  COMMUNE  43 

matters  reserved  by  government,  the  election  of  the  proper 
governmental  body  of  the  commune  (the  Communal  Council), 
and  of  the  appointed  officials  and  special  functionaries,  in  due 
accordance  with  the  communal  regulations  in  actual  force, 
the  acceptance  of  the  budget  and  communal  accounts,  the 
determination  of  the  taxes,  and  also  the  assent  to  all  expend- 
iture exceeding  a  certain  fixed  amount.  In  some  cantons  the 
Assembly  is  invested  also  with  further  functions;  for  instance, 
in  Schwyz  the  assignment  of  the  burgher- right,  in  Solothurm 
the  election  of  public  employees  whose  salary  exceeds  500  francs, 
in  Ticino  even  the  election  of  clergymen  and  doctors.  In 
other  cantons,  on  the  other  hand,  the  competency  of  the  Assem- 
bly is  more  restricted,  as  in  Nidwalden,  where  the  Assembly 
has  only  to  do  with  the  appointments,  while  the  entire  govern- 
ment lies  in  the  hands  of  the  officials.  This  restriction  is 
especially  operative  when  a  portion  of  the  functions  (as  in 
the  larger  communes  of  Berne),  or  the  entire  burden  of 
government,  with  the  exception  of  appointments  (as  in  the 
larger  communes  of  Valais  and  Neufchatel),  has  been  handed 
over  to  a  communal  committee.  In  the  election  of  this  com- 
mittee minority  representation  is  prescribed  by  cantonal  legis- 
lation in  Neufchatel;  in  Berne  the  method  of  election,  majority, 
minority,  or  proportional  representation,  is  left  for  the  commune 
to  determine  by  resolution. 

"  Finally,  the  organisation  in  those  cantons,  Bale  City  and 
Geneva,  where  the  commune  and  the  canton  almost  coincide, 
by  reason  of  its  abnormal  character,  does  not  come  within  our 
present  survey.  The  rights  of  the  individual  qualified 
burgher  at  the  Communal  Assembly  consist  in  the  right  of 
free  expression  of  opinion  and  of  moving  resolutions  upon 
public  matters  concerning  government.  The  resolution,  how- 
ever, is  usually  adopted  that  in  the  treatment  of  questions 
which  have  not  been  indicated  in  the  summons  of  the  Assembly, 
only   matters   of   urgency   should   be   determined.     Naturally 


44  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

these  rights  can  only  be  exercised  when  the  commune  acts 
through  open  meeting.  When  the  Assembly  is  conducted 
through  the  ballot,  their  place  is  usually  taken,  as  in  Neufchatel 
and  some  communes  of  Berne,  by  the  right  of  the  initiative. 
The  duty  of  the  burgher  to  take  part  in  the  transactions,  elec- 
tions, and  resolutions  is  for  the  most  part  regarded  only  as  a 
moral  one.  Some  cantons,  however,  impose  a  fine  upon  those 
who  do  not  participate,  while  in  others  a  right  is  conceded  to 
the  commune  to  summon  under  penalty. 

"The  Communal  Council  (Einwohner  Gemeinde  Rat)  con- 
sists of  a  number  of  elected  persons  upon  whom  devolves  the 
administration  of  the  agreed  accounts  and  communal  resolu- 
tions by  means  of  the  executive  organs,  as  well  as  the  general 
conduct  of  the  government.  The  number  of  members  of  the 
Communal  Council  is  usually  limited  by  law  and  fixed  by 
communal  regulation.  In  some  cantons  the  number  is  regu- 
lated in  proportion  to  population,  and  is  therefore  very  differ- 
ent, varying  from  two,  chairman  and  secretary  (in  certain 
communes  of  Graubunden)  to  thirty  (in  certain  communes 
of  Ticino.)  But  speaking  generally,  in  most  communes  the 
number  of  members  will  vary  between  five  and  nine.  Members 
are  chosen  by  the  Assembly  for  a  fixed  length  of  service.  An 
exception,  however,  occurs  in  the  case  of  Thurgau,  where  the 
chairmen  of  the  local  communes  are  likewise  members  of  the 
municipal  commune.  Elections  are  usually  determined  by 
an  absolute  majority  vote.  Proportional  representation, 
optional  or  facultative,  is  only  found  in  Freiburg,  Solothurm, 
Ticino,  and  Zug.  The  functions  of  the  Council  consist  in  the 
administration  of  the  communal  powers  above  described,  to 
which  is  added  the  appointment  of  the  subordinate  officials 
and  commissions.  In  cantons  Vaud  and  Obwalden  the  control 
of  church  property  is  excluded.  The  business  of  the  Council 
is  disposed  of  either  by  the  board  as  such  (the  communal 
system)  or  through  individual  members  of  the  same,  to  whom 


THE   COMMUNE  45 

special  branches  of  the  communal  government  are  allotted 
(the  directional  system).  In  the  larger  municipal  communes 
these  members  or  some  of  them  are  permanent  officials. 

"The  Communal  President  (Amman,  Maire,  Syndic),  besides 
being  chairman  of  the  Council,  has  in  most  cantons  a  certain 
independent  position  and  function,  and  indeed  must  be  con- 
sidered on  the  one  side  as  communal  officer,  while  on  the 
other  he  is  accredited  with  certain  duties  of  the  state  govern- 
ment, as,  for  instance,  police  court  work  and  occasional  pros- 
ecutions. 

"The  secretarial  work  of  the  Council  falls  to  the  Communal 
Secretary,  whose  secretarial  duties  comprise  both  the  inde- 
pendent functions  of  the  president  and  as  a  rule  also  the  secre- 
taryship of  the  commune: 

"Besides  the  proper  departments  of  government  there  exist 
almost  everywhere  special  commissions,  to  which  more  or  less 
independent  powers  are  attached,  and  which,  in  fact,  are 
appointed  by  the  special  communes  (poor  law  communes, 
school  communes)  or  by  the  popular  commune,  or  finally  by 
the  Communal  Council.  To  such  belong  the  school  com- 
mission, to  which  is  committed  either  the  complete  school 
administration  or  merely  the  inspection.  In  some  cases  they 
have  also  to  choose  teachers;  as  regards  the  common  school, 
however,  this  choice  rests  with  the  Communal  Assembly  or 
the  Communal  Committee  (Berne).  Freiburg  alone  retains 
for  the  State  Council  the  right  of  selection  of  teachers.  We 
have  further  to  take  into  account  the  poor  law  boards, 
most  of  which  occupy  a  position  of  greater  independence, 
owing  to  the  fact  that  they  have  grown  up  out  of  the  burgher 
government  and  have  only  to  do  with  the  burgher  poor. 

"The  Boards  of  Guardians  (orphan  officers)  come  into  the 
same  category,  where  guardianship  is  not  a  matter  for  the 
burgher  commune,  or  has  been  taken  over  by  the  popular 
Communal  Council.     In  individual  cantons,  by  reason  of  the 


46  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

assumption  of  other  governmental  functions  such  as  taxation, 
water  police,  sanitation,  and  police,  special  commissions  have 
come  into  existence,  most  of  which,  however,  are  subject  to 
the  Communal  Council  and  are  accountable  to  the  same. 
Permanent  individual  officials  may  take  the  place  of  boards  of 
commissioners  (the  police  commissioner  at  Glarus)." 

This  account  of  the  structure  of  communal  government  is 
interesting  as  illustrative  of  the  variety  and  complexity  of 
minor  experiments  in  democratic  government  carried  on  by 
local  organisations  which  at  the  same  time  all  conform  to  a 
general  type. 

Everywhere  the  full  assembly  of  male  inhabitants  determines 
by  free  vote  important  issues  of  local  government,  passing 
laws,  voting  taxes,  endorsing  expenditure,  and  imposing  acts 
of  policy  upon  its  elected  executive. 


CHAPTER   IV 

THE  LANDSGEMEINDE  OR  STATE  COMMUNE 

The  chief  problem  of  democracy,  the  question  of  the  direct 
or  indirect  exercise  of  popular  power  over  the  legislative, 
executive,  and  judicial  functions  of  government,  is  nowhere 
studied  to  greater  advantage  than  in  the  cantons  of  Switzer- 
land. The  democracy  of  the  commune,  the  Gemeinde,  though 
real  and  important  in  the  power  it  exercises,  is  limited  by  the 
legislative  supremacy  of  the  canton.  JThe  Swiss  canton,  how- 
ever, is  in  the  real  sense  a  sovereign  state  whose  citizens  possess 
all  rights  of  self-government  that  have  not  been  explicitly 
assigned  to  the  federal  government.  Each  of  these  states 
secures  for  the  body  of  its  free  citizens  unrestricted  powers 
over  the  revision  of  its  Constitution,  the  passing  of  laws,  their 
administration,  and  the  control  of  state  finances;  nowhere  do 
the  forms  of  this  government  contain  any  checks  based  on 
heredity,  race,  caste,  property,  upon  the  full  expression  of 
the  will  of  the  people.  The  extent,  however,  to  which  the 
people  in  the  various  cantons  have  in  practice  delegated  their 
powers  of  legislation  and  administration  to  representative  bodies 
and  to  more  or  less  permanent  officials  differs  very  widely  in 
the  different  states. 

/Six  states,  Uri,  Glarus,  and  the  double  cantons  of  Unter- 
walden  and  Appenzell,  have  retained  the  primitive  form  of  a 
pure  democracy  in  which  the  sovereign  power  of  the  people 
is  directly  exercised  in  all  the  critical  acts  of  government  by 
the  full  assemblage  of  citizens,  forming  the  largest  and  most 
conspicuous  examples  of  what  Rousseau  and  certain  other  polit- 

47 


48  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

ical  philosophers  regard  as  the  only  real  democracy,  the  voice  of 
the  people  expressly  endorsing  every  act  of  government.  This 
extension  of  the  communal  idea  to  the  larger  commune  of  the 
state  (hence  the  name  Landsgemeinde  or  State  Commune)  does 
not  come  down  from  remote  antiquity,  but  dates  from  the 
thirteenth  and  fourteenth  centuries,  when  co-operative  action 
between  neighbouring  communes  became  so  frequent  and  so 
continuous  as  to  require  corporate  expression  in  an  organ  of 
government.  It  was  not  unnatural  that  small  populations, 
covering  no  considerable  area  of  land  and  accustomed  to  deter- 
mine all  their  local  affairs  by  general  meetings,  should  extend 
this  method  to  the  wider  sphere  of  the  canton,  at  any  rate  in 
those  parts  of  Switzerland  where  natural  conditions  made  it 
feasible  to  do  so.  Hence  we  find  that  in  the  fifteenth  and 
sixteenth  centuries  most  of  the  German  cantons  adopted  this 
form  of  government,  which  was  found  in  eleven  states  in  the 
League  of  Thirteen,  after  the  Reformation.  Most  of  these 
governments  continued  up  to  the  nineteenth  century,  Schwyz 
and  Zug  until  1848,  but  the  tendency  during  later  generations 
has  been  to  substitute  for  the  cantonal  commune  a  qualified 
form  of  representative  government.  Mass  meeting  as  an 
habitual  mode  of  government  is  found  ill-accommodated  to 
the  needs  of  a  large  and  scattered  population  as  well  as  to  the 
complexity  of  public  functions  in  a  civilised  state,  and  the 
general  view  of  the  Landsgemeinde  appears  to  be  that  it  is 
a  belated  survival  of  an  old  primitive  order,  retaining  its  life 
in  a  few  small  and  conservative  states  and  destined,  as  a  matter 
of  course,  to  disappear  before  the  superior  claims  of  the  rep- 
resentative system,  as  soon  as  the  growth  of  population  exhibits 
its  unwieldiness.  There  are,  however,  at  present  no  signs  of 
decay  even  in  the  two  states  Glarus  and  Appenzell  A.  Rh., 
where  population  and  town  life  have  attained  considerable 
proportions,  and  the  Landsgemeinde  assuredly  deserves  study  as 
aliving  instance  of  fulldirect  self-government  in  a  sovereign  state. 


LANDSGEMEINDE  OR  STATE  COMMUNE      49 

Those  who  best  understand  the  spirit  of  Swiss  democracy 
are  least  disposed  to  set  a  purely  antiquarian  or  romantic 
interest  upon  these  popular  gatherings  with  their  ancient  cer- 
emonials. If  we  bear  clearly  in  mind  the  conditions  of  num- 
bers and  of  area  which  are  essential  to  the  proper  functioning 
of  such  an  organ  of  government,  we  shall  recognise  this  ex- 
panded commune  as  a  really  important  experiment  for  the 
determination  of  the  special  and  constitutional  limits  within 
which  direct  popular  government  is  possible.  The  significance 
of  such  experiments  will  be  apparent  to  all  those  who  reject 
the  crude  and  false  simplicity  of  the  theory  that  the  evolution 
of  political  institutions  is  entirely  in  the  direction  of  increasing 
complexity  of  representative  forms. 

It  is  impossible  to  witness  one  of  these  solemn  gatherings 
of  the  sovereign  people  of  a  Swiss  canton  without  feeling  how 
much  more,  in  sentiment  and  thought,  self-government  means 
for  such  men  than  for  those  who,  in  our  sovereign  states,  are 
gathered  by  mechanical  devices  to  vote  a  party  ticket  bestowing 
powers  of  legislation,  which  they  do  not  understand,  upon 
persons  whom  they  have  never  seen. 

Professor  Freeman,  who  was  the  first  to  rediscover  this 
unique  ceremony  for  modern  English  readers,  gives  the  follow- 
ing picture  of  the  gathering  at  Uri: 

"It  is  one  of  the  opening  days  of  May,  it  is  the  morning  of 
Sunday;  for  men  there  deem  that  the  better  the  day  the  better 
the  deed;  they  deem  that  the  Creator  cannot  be  more  truly 
honoured  than  in  using,  in  his  sphere  and  in  his  presence,  the 
highest  of  the  gifts  which  he  has  bestowed  on  man.  From 
the  market  place  of  Altdorf,  the  little  capital  of  the  canton,  the 
procession  makes  its  way  to  the  place  of  meeting  at  Bozlingen. 
First  marches  the  little  army  of  the  canton,  an  army  whose 
weapons  can  never  be  used  except  to  drive  back  an  invader 
from  their  lands.  Over  their  heads  floats  the  banner,  the  bull's 
head  of  Uri,  the  ensign  which  led  men  to  victory  in  the  fields 


50  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

of  Sempach  and  Morgarten.  And  before  them  all,  on  the 
shoulders  of  men  clad  in  a  garb  of  ages  past,  are  borne  the 
famous  horns  whose  blast  struck  such  dread  into  the  fearless 
heart  of  Charles  of  Burgundy.  Then,  with  their  lictors  before 
them,  come  the  magistrates  of  the  Commonwealth  on  horse- 
back, the  chief  magistrate,  the  Landamman,  with  his  sword  by 
his  side.  The  people  follow  the  chiefs  whom  they  have  chosen 
to  the  place  of  meeting,  a  circle  in  a  green  meadow,  with  a 
pine  forest  rising  over  their  head,  and  a  mighty  spur  of  the 
mountain- range  facing  them  on  the  other  side  of  the  valley. 
The  multitude  of  freemen  take  their  seats  around  the  chief 
ruler  of  the  Commonwealth,  whose  term  of  office  comes  that 
day  to  an  end.  The  Assembly  opens;  a  short  space  is  first 
given  to  prayer,  silent  prayer,  offered  up  by  each  man  in  the 
temple  of  God's  own  rearing.  Then  comes  the  business  of 
the  day.  Thus  year  by  year,  on  some  bright  morning  of  the 
springtide,  the  sovereign  people,  not  intrusting  its  rights  to  a 
few  of  its  own  number,  but  discharging  them  itself  in  the  majesty 
of  its  corporate  person,  meets  in  the  open  market  place  or  in 
the  green  meadow  at  the  mountain's  foot,  to  frame  the  laws  to 
which  it  yields  obedience  as  its  own  work,  to  choose  rulers 
whom  it  can  afford  to  greet  with  reverence  as  drawing  their 
commission  from  itself.  You  may  there  gaze  and  feel  what 
none  can  feel  but  those  who  have  seen  with  their  own  eyes, 
what  none  can  feel  in  its  fulness  more  than  once  in  a  lifetime, 
the  thrill  of  looking  for  the  first  time  face  to  face  on  freedom 
in  its  purest  and  most  ancient  form."  * 

With  somewhat  less  ceremonial  the  other  cantonal  communes 
conduct  this  annual  work  of  government.  Every  qualified 
citizen,  that  is  to  say  every  male  resident  over  the  age  of  twenty 
(in  the  case  of  Nidwald  eighteen)  is  entitled  to  be  present 
and  receives  in  due  course  a  printed  agenda  of  the  business 
which  will  come  before  the  Landsgemeinde.     In  Glarus  and 

1  The  Growth  of  the  English  Constitution,  Ch.  I. 


LANDSGEMEINDE  OR  STATE  COMMUNE      51 

the  two  Appenzells  a  fine  for  non-appearance  is  imposed.  The 
regular  business  consists  first  of  the  election  of  the  chief  officials 
of  the  canton,  the  Landamman,  or  president,  his  substitute, 
the  treasurer  and  the  commandant  of  the  militia,  also  the 
appointment  of  the  federal  deputies. 

The  drafts  of  all  cantonal  laws  prepared  by  the  Council 
(Rath  or  Landsrath),  or  the  motions  brought  forward  on  the 
initiative  of  individual  citizens,  are  voted  upon  by  show  of 
hands,  and  the  acceptance  or  rejection  of  the  same  by  a  major- 
ity of  the  votes  has  absolute  validity.  In  Uri  and  Glarus  there 
is  unrestricted  freedom  of  discussion  of  all  laws  and  motions, 
and  in  these  states  the  Constitution  invests  the  Landsgemeinde 
with  the  power  of  introducing  amendments  or  modifications 
of  the  laws  proposed.  In  the  other  cantons  some  restraints 
are  imposed  upon  discussion,  and  the  meeting  must  accept  or 
reject  the  proposals  in  their  entirety.  The  total  or  partial 
revision  of  the  Constitution,  the  abolition  of  any  existing  law, 
the  admission  of  new  citizens,  the  authorisation  of  the  state 
taxes  and  of  all  public  expenditure  exceeding  a  certain  sum, 
are  also  general  functions  of  the  Landsgemeinde.  The  whole 
proceedings  are  marked  by  a  spirit  of  solemnity  and  traditional 
good  order,  while  a  religious  sanction  is  imparted  by  the  open- 
ing prayer  and  the  administration  of  the  oath  of  allegiance  to 
the  Constitution.  This  oath  is  thus  administered  to  the  as- 
sembled citizens  of  Glarus  gathered  together  with  their  women 
folk  and  their  children,  who  for  their  instruction  are  set  in  the 
front  seats  of  the  meeting: 

"We  promise  and  swear  truly  and  faithfully  to  keep  the 
constitutional  laws  of  the  federation  and  the  canton,  to  guard 
and  protect  the  honour,  unity,  and  strength  of  our  Fatherland, 
its  independence,  and  the  freedom  and  rights  of  its  citizens, 
and  so  may  God  help  us."  To  this  oath,  pronounced  by  the 
State  Secretary,  the  Assembly  gives  its  assent  by  repeating  the 
words  "This  we  swear." 


52  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

Security  against  waste  of  time  and  disorder  is  furnished  by 
care  in  the  preparation  of  the  business.  This  is  undertaken 
by  the  Council  elected  by  vote  of  the  local  assemblies  and 
entrusted  with  the  general  enforcement  of  the  Constitution  and 
of  the  laws  and  decrees  of  the  Landsgemeinde,  with  the  receipt 
of  official  reports,  and  the  consideration  of  all  laws  and  motions 
which  are  to  be  brought  before  the  forthcoming  Landsgemeinde. 
This  Council  is  entitled  to  consider  all  proposals,  to  reject  all 
frivolous  or  improperly  formulated  motions,  and  all  sudden 
matters  except  in  case  of  grave  emergency :  it  also  has  the  right 
upon  the  initiative  of  a  body  of  citizens  to  summon  an  extraor- 
dinary assembly. 

All  legislation  brought  before  the  Landsgemeinde  has  thus 
been  initiated  or  shaped  by  the  Council.  Formerly  any  person 
was  at  liberty  to  present  a  bill  to  the  meeting,  but  this  right 
has  been  cancelled  and  all  bills  are  considered  and  reported 
upon  by  the  Council,  which  must  publish  them  in  the  pro- 
gramme submitted  to  citizens  before  the  annual  Assembly. 

In  Glarus  the  order  of  procedure  for  business  introduced  by 
individual  initiation  is  this:  In  January  of  each  year  the 
Official  Gazette  publishes  a  notice  requiring  that  all  proposi- 
tions to  be  submitted  to  the  Landsgemeinde  shall  be  sent  in 
within  fourteen  days  after  a  given  date.  The  propositions 
must  be  in  writing,  accompanied  by  a  statement  of  the  objects 
to  which  they  are  directed  and  the  reasons.  These  proposi- 
tions are  duly  considered  by  the  Landsrath  and,  if  approved 
by  ten  votes,  they  are  incorporated  with  a  commendatory 
clause  in  the  programme  (Landsgemeinde  Memorial)  issued 
four  weeks  before  the  meeting  of  the  Assembly.  Motions  not 
approved  in  the  Council  must  also  be  inserted  in  the  programme, 
but  they  are  put  in  a  special  department,  popularly  known  as 
the  Bei  Wagen  or  Special  Coach.  • 

The  Assembly  may  by  its  vote  endorse  one  of  these  as 
rejected  proposals:  in  that  case   it  must  be   placed    in   the 


LANDSGEMEINDE  OR  STATE  COMMUNE      53 

favoured  list  in  next  year's  programme.  The  Council  thus 
exercises  in  effect  a  limited  veto. 

In  Appenzell  (In  Rh.)  and  in  Upper  Unterwalden  all  motions 
must  be  sent  in  first  to  the  Grand  Council,  but  if  the  latter 
refuse  to  present  a  motion  it  is  competent  for  any  citizen  to 
bring  it  before  the  Assembly.  The  same  rule  with  a  further 
modification  applies  to  Appenzell  (Aus  Rh.). 

The  general  condition  is  that  all  measures  must  first  be  sub- 
mitted to  the  Council,  but  that  the  adverse  judgment  of  the 
Council  does  not  prevent  its  supporters  from  obtaining  the 
legislative  sanction  of  the  Assembly. 

This  Landsrath,  by  an  expansion  or  reduction  of  its  members 
and  sometimes  by  an  addition  of  other  elected  persons,  forms 
other  councils  or  committees,  to  which  are  entrusted  judicial, 
police,  and  other  executive  functions.  There  is  also  a  smaller 
body,  called  the  Commission  of  State,  directly  elected  by  the 
Landsgemeinde  and  entrusted  with  minor  administrative 
business. 

With  the  growing  complexity  of  public  life  the  powers  and 
duties  of  these  councils  of  course  become  graver.  Important 
administrative  acts  have  been  done  upon  their  sole  authority, 
and  attempts  have  been  made  to  restrict  the  practical  com- 
petence of  the  Landsgemeinde  by  giving  the  Council  the  abso- 
lute determination  of  the  agenda  for  public  assembly,  thus 
withdrawing  from  the  body  of  citizens  the  right  of  initiative 
which  they  had  hitherto  possessed.  This  invasion  of  popular 
rights  has,  however,  been  repelled,  and  though  the  power  of  full 
free  discussion  is  of  necessity  curtailed,  all  the  determinant  acts  of 
government  are  retained  in  the  hands  of  the  sovereign  people. 

It  is  of  course  possible  that  in  course  of  time  the  councils, 
constituting  the  representative  factor,  may  further  encroach 
upon  the  power  of  direct  government  through  the  popular 
Assembly.  But  hitherto  the  popular  power  has  been  jealously 
guarded. 


54  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

The  following  account  of  the  democracy  of  Appenzell  (In 
Rh.)  illustrates  the  attitude  of  the  people  in  a  rural  canton: 

"It  has  long  been  a  constitutional  rule  of  the  State  that  no 
measure  can  be  presented  at  the  Landsgemeinde  unless  it  has 
been  passed  upon  by  the  Great  Council.  An  inference  from 
this  might  be  that  the  Landsgemeinde  merely  goes  through  the 
form  of  accepting  and  rejecting  what  the  Great  Council  has 
accepted  and  rejected  beforehand.  And  in  matters  of  slight 
importance  this  is  usually  the  practice.  But  that  it  is  not  the 
practice  in  matters  of  more  than  slight  importance  is  shown 
by  the  following  incident:  In  the  year  1891  it  had  been  the 
prerogative  of  the  Grand  Council  to  choose  the  cantonal  mem- 
ber of  the  Standerat  or  Senate.  In  the  Landsgemeinde  of 
that  year  a  citizen  brought  forward  a  measure  (previously 
passed  upon  adversely  by  the  Grand  Council)  to  annul  this 
prerogative,  and  place  the  election  of  Senator  in  the  hands  of 
the  Landsgemeinde.  The  vote  was  taken  and  the  measure 
passed."  * 

But  while  encroachments  of  the  Councils  upon  the  direct 
government  of  the  Landsgemeinde  are  rejected,  the  latter  in 
common  with  the  other  cantonal  governments  have  suffered 
some  diminution  of  power  by  the  growth  of  the  functions  of 
federal  government. 

Though  there  is  no  likelihood  of  other  cantons,  some  of 
which  have  tried  and  abandoned  the  Landsgemeinde,  reverting 
to  this  form  of  pure  democracy,  it  is  equally  improbable  that 
these  six  states  will  quickly  change  a  Constitution  which  seems 
well  accommodated  to  their  temper  and  their  needs. 

For  the  successful  use  of  this  form  of  government  certain 
conditions  are  clearly  requisite.  We  have  already  named  two, 
small  population  and  compact  territory.  The  abandonment 
of  the  Landsgemeinde  by  Schwyz  in  1848  was  plainly  attrib- 

1  Pure  Democracy  and  Pastoral  Life  in  Inner  Rhodes,  T.  Irving  Richman 
(quoted  Deploige,  p.  23). 


LANDSGEMEINDE  OR  STATE  COMMUNE      55 

utable  to  the  extension  of  the  size  and  population  of  this  canton, 
imposing  grave  difficulties  on  the  practice  of  the  popular  As- 
sembly, and  arousing  in  the  outlying  districts  jealousy  of  the 
pretensions  of  the  central  district.  Though  the  cantonal 
Landsgemeinde  has  disappeared,  it  has  been  replaced,  by  not 
ordinary  representative  institutions,  but  by  six  district  assem- 
blies (Bezirksgemeinde)  which  are  practically  Landsgemeinde, 
wielding  all  the  powers  formerly  vested  in  the  single  cantonal 
Assembly.  From  this  example  it  already  appears  that  size 
is  the  determinant  condition  for  the  maintenance  of  pure  democ- 
racy exercised  by  means  of  the  popular  Assembly.  The  state 
must  not  be  so  large  as  to  prevent  all  citizens  from  having  easy 
access  to  the  place  of  assembly;  nor  must  the  number  of  citizens 
be  so  large  as  to  render  it  impossible  for  all  those  present  to 
hear  the  proceedings  of  the  Assembly.  These  are  the  physical 
conditions  for  the  effective  unity  of  a  legislative  Assembly 
operating  by  means  of  the  living  voice.  The  number  of  qual- 
ified citizens  in  1898  for  the  several  Landsgemeinde  are  given 
as  follows:  Appenzell  A.  Rh.  12,500,  Glarus  8,000,  Uri  4500, 
Obwalden  3900,  Nidwalden  3100,  Appenzell  I.  Rh.  3000. 

It  seems  evident  that  the  two  first  named  have  come  near 
to  the  limit  of  effective  unity,  and  that  in  the  case  of  Appenzell 
A.  Rh.,  at  any  rate,  the  Landsgemeinde  must  weaken  with 
any  considerable  growth  of  population.  For  the  validity  of 
such  a  government  depends  upon  the  active  participation  of 
the  general  body  of  citizens.  At  present  it  is  estimated  that 
some  three-quarters  of  the  qualified  citizens  obey  the  sum- 
mons *  to  attend  the  Assembly.  But  let  the  gathering  once 
grow  so  large  that  most  of  those  attending  are  strangers  to  one 
another,  while  the  advocates  of  measures  have  been  unable 
to  canvas  or  educate  the  opinions  of  any  large  section  of  the 
people:  let  the  human  voice  fail  to  gather  into  unity  of  under- 
standing and  of  sentiment  the  concourse  of  citizens,  it  is  evident 
1  The  highest  recorded  figure  is  eighty-six  per  cent. 


56  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

that  the  soul  of  the  Landsgemeinde  must  perish  in  its  body, 
and  the  business  of  government  pass  into  the  hands  of  the 
officials  or  of  some  managing  clique  of  citizens. 

It  is,  however,  right  to  recognise  in  these  Swiss  Landsgemeinde 
cantons  other  conditions  of  success  hardly  less  essential  than 
limitation  of  numbers  and  area.  They  are  all  mountain  states 
with  populations  mainly  devoted  to  pastoral  and  other  rural 
pursuits,  unlikely  to  develop  into  large  centres  of  manufacture 
and  commerce.  Conditions  of  life  are  simple  and  conservative, 
no  wide  social  or  economic  class  distinctions  exist,  there  are 
no  divisions  of  race  or  religion.  There  are,  therefore,  no  great 
demands  upon  the  resources  of  government,  no  elaborate 
machinery  of  administration  is  required,  nor  need  a  multitude 
of  new  laws  be  devised  to  meet  the  rapid  changes  of  a  modern 
up-to-date  population.  Where  every  determinant  act  of  gov- 
ernment is  performed  upon  a  single  day  by  the  direct  vote  of 
the  whole  people  assembled  in  person,  paucity  and  simplicity 
of  legislation  are  indispensable. 


CHAPTER  V 

POPULAR  CHECKS  ON  THE  REPRESENTATIVE  SYSTEM 

I.     The  Cantons 

Not  only  in  the  government  of  the  thousands  of  local  communes 
and  of  the  six  State  Communes,  but  throughout  the  cantonal 
and  federal  system  of  Switzerland,  a  direct  expression  of  the 
will  of  the  people  stamps  every  constitutional  or  important 
legal  change.  The  sharp  contrast  sometimes  drawn  between 
the  communal  cantons  and  those  with  representative  legis- 
latures is  deceptive.  The  real  distinction  is  only  of  degree, 
not  of  kind. 

The  representative  principle,  as  we  saw,  was  not  absent  from 
the  communal  cantons,  each  of  which  had  its  elected  Council 
or  Councils,  endowed  with  considerable  executive  and  certain 
regulative  duties  which  imply  minor  legislative  powers.  So  in 
the  case  of  the  cantons  which  are  described  as  representative 
in  their  legislative  institutions,  the  legislative  powers  wielded 
by  the  representative  bodies  are  everywhere  checked  by  con- 
stitutional restraints  intended  to  secure  to  the  direct  judgment 
of  the  people  the  final  right  of  determination  in  all  vital  acts  of 
government.  These  restraints  vary  in  rigour,  but  they  are 
always  real,  and  are  everywhere  imposed  in  the  interest  of 
direct  popular  government. 

Nowhere,  at  no  time,  have  the  Swiss  accorded  to  their  elected 
representatives  the  position  and  the  power  commonly  pos- 
sessed by  parliamentary  assemblies  in  Europe  or  in  America. 

Their  political  history  has  not  furnished  the  need  or  the 

57 


58  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

practice  required  for  a  full  development  of  the  representative 
system.  The  territorial  subdivision  of  their  little  country  did 
not  impose  the  necessity  of  regular  representation:  cantonal 
government  was  comparatively  slight,  and  no  aristocracy 
fastened  so  strong  and  so  abiding  a  yoke  upon  the  people  as 
to  arrogate  an  exclusive  right  of  legislating  upon  their  behalf. 
.  The  body  of  citizens  continued  to  enjoy  such  a  degree  of  equality 
and  of  economic  independence  as  to  make  them  unwilling  to 
entrust  the  determination  of  important  public  issues  to  any 
gathering  of  elected  persons.  In  other  instances,  when  a  city 
such  as  Berne  or  Zurich  acquired  considerable  tracts  of  half- 
subject  territory,  the  beginnings  of  representative  institutions 
began  to  appear  in  the  middle  ages,  but  were  checked  by  the 
temporary  emergence  of  an  oligarchy  in  these  cities  which 
maintained  control  until  the  epoch  of  the  revolution. 
/  Genuinely  representative  government  thus  never  got  a  firm 
footing  in  the  cantons.  Federal  government  was,  until  the 
nineteenth  century,  neither  of  a  form  nor  a  substance  to  admit 
of  true  representation.  The  Confederation  was  a  league  of 
independent  states  varying  in  personnel  and  number,  to  which 
delegates  were  sent  from  the  several  cantons  with  purely  con- 
sultative powers.  Not  until  the  constitution  of  the  Helvetic 
League  was  there  any  central  government  large  enough  in  its 
powers  to  require  the  exercise  of  genuine  representation  on  the 
part  of  the  cantons. 

>  In  a  word,  until  modern  times,  the  working  politics  of  Switzer- 
land were  such  that  there  was  no  necessity  to  invent  represent- 
ative institutions  such  as  arose  in  other  countries  where 
co-operate  activities  were  developed  in  most  various  forms  and 
over  larger  areas  of  territory  and  of  population. 

When,  therefore,  modern  conditions,  such  as  the  increase  of 
population,  the  growing  intricacy  of  commerce,  the  needs  of 
more  complex  social  legislation  within  the  canton  and  the 
Confederation  compelled  a  larger  and  more  systematic  recourse 


CHECKS  ON  REPRESENTATIVE  SYSTEM       59 

to  representative  government,  it  was  only  natural  that  the  old 
safeguards  should  be  retained,  partly  in  virtue  of  a  democratic 
theory,  but  more  largely  as  a  conservative  instinct  wrapped  up 
in  the  concept  of  a  personal  right. 

The  chief  of  these  safeguards  of  democracy,  the  referendum, 
is  sometimes  traced  back  by  historians  to  origins  in  the  political 
history  of  the  Grisons  and  Valais,  or  to  customs  prevailing  in 
Berne  and  Zurich  during  the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  centuries. 
Others  lay  stress  upon  the  influence  of  the  great  Swiss  philoso- 
pher Rousseau,  whose  Social  Contract  must  have  deeply  im- 
pressed itself  upon  the  minds  of  his  countrymen  during  the 
period  when  their  old  institutions  were  thrown  by  Napoleon 
into  the  melting-pot  to  reissue  in  new  rational  moulds.  But 
though  ancient  precedent  and  philosophic  reflection  may  have 
exerted  some  conscious  influence,  the  adoption  of  the  referen- 
dum and  other  accompanying  checks  on  the  newly  applied 
representative  system  must  be  attributed  in  the  main  to  the 
self -protecting  instinct  of  Swiss  local  democracy,  improvising  a 
tolerably  obvious  set  of  checks  upon  what  Whitman  terms 
"the  never  ending  audacity  of  elected  persons." 
/The  history  of  the  introduction  of  the  referendum  into  the 
Constitution  of  the  cantons  and  the  federation  clearly  indicates 
that  it  was  devised  as  a  weapon  of  the  people  against  certain 
abuses  inherent  in  the  representative  system.  It  may  be  pos- 
sible to  establish  in  the  future  a  democracy  which  enables  the 
will  of  the  people  to  work  freely  and  fully  through  representa- 
tive institutions,  but  past  history  shows  no  example  of  such  an 
achievement.  In  every  country  where  it  has  been  tried,  an 
aristocracy  or  an  oligarchy  resting  on  birth,  social  prestige  or 
economic  power,  has  obtained  such  control  of  the  machinery 
of  representation  as  enables  them  to  impose  their  class  interests 
upon  the  policy  of  government. 

The  Swiss  cantons  in  the  early  nineteenth  century  proved  no 
exception  to  this  rule.    The  Act  of  Mediation  which  drew  up 


60  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

the  Constitution  of  1803  laid  down  the  primary  principle  "that 
there  no  longer  exists  in  Switzerland  either  subject  lands,  or 
privileges  of  place,  birth,  persons  or  families." 

The  Federal  Agreement  of  August,  18 15,  to  which  the  twenty- 
two  cantons  gave  their  solemn  assent,  repeated  the  principle  in 
its  7th  Article,  "The  Confederation  declares  this  principle  to 
be  inviolable:  that  since  the  twenty-two  cantons  have  been 
generally  recognised  as  such,  there  are  no  longer  in  Switzerland 
any  subject  countries,  and,  in  the  same  way,  the  enjoyment  of 
political  rights  can  never  in  any  canton  be  made  the  exclusive 
privilege  of  any  one  class  of  citizens. " 

In  point  of  fact  the  single  legislative  chambers  in  which 
representative  government  took  shape  at  the  beginning  of  the 
nineteenth  century,  in  most  of  the  cantons,  soon  fell  into  the 
hands  of  a  ruling  clique  in  the  principal  towns,  and,  being 
endowed  with  practically  absolute  power  became  powerful 
instruments  of  oligarchic  sway.  Even  when  the  liberal  move- 
ment of  1830,  sweeping  over  the  country,  restored  the  forms  of 
popular  government  by  extending  the  franchise  and  abolishing 
the  system  of  indirect  election,  the  people  continued  to  look 
with  jealous  eyes  upon  the  elected  assemblies  and  were  un- 
willing to  leave  in  their  hands  the  determination  of  vital 
affairs. 

The  new  constitutions,  set  up  after  1830,  contained  all  the 
main  essentials  of  representative  democracy,  a  single  chamber 
with  no  presidential  veto,  universal  suffrage,  equal  electoral 
areas  by  population  and  a  popular  veto  for  constitutional 
changes.  Full  legislative  power  was  vested  in  the  Great  Council 
thus  elected,  and  the  Small  Council  forming  the  executive  was 
entirely  nominated  by  the  members  of  the  Great  Council. 

To  those  who  believe  that  the  search  for  Democracy  is  the 
search  for  a  balance  or  harmony  between  representative  and 
direct  forms  of  popular  government  these  cantonal  consti- 
tutions  of   1830   are   most  instructive.     Their    makers  threw 


CHECKS   ON  REPRESENTATIVE  SYSTEM       61 

themselves  whole-heartedly  into  the  logic  of  democratic  repre- 
sentation. Since  the  people  were  to  govern  through  their  del- 
egates the  latter  must  enjoy  all  the  powers  and  prerogatives  of 
the  former.  The  great  Council  was,  therefore,  endowed  with 
complete  legislative  powers  as  regards  all  matters  not  expressly 
reserved  by  the  Federal  Constitution.  It  was  also  the  sole 
source  of  executive  and  judical  power,  appointing  the  members 
of  the  government  and  electing  the  judges.  No  adequate 
safeguards  against  hasty  legislation  existed.  A  bill  moved 
quickly  through  the  Council,  even  in  those  cantons,  where  three 
separate  readings  were  required,  and  passed  into  law  without 
any  external  discussion  or  sanction.  Administrative  orders 
were  even  exempt  from  these  slight  restrictions  or  delays,  so 
that  the  Great  Council  could,  whenever  it  chose,  govern  by 
executive  authority. 

It  was  inevitable  that  powers  so  wide  and  absolute  should 
be  abused.  The  people,  having  stripped  themselves  of  every 
shred  of  sovereignty,  and  having  handed  it  over  to  the  Grand 
Council,  discovered  that  the  latter  developed,  in  its  majority, 
a  will  which  was  not  the  will  of  the  people,  but  which  acted 
more  or  less  independently  and  often  in  antagonism  to  it. 
Interests  re-established  themselves  in  the  seat  of  authority; 
ill-considered  laws  got  into  the  statute  book,  and  elected  per- 
sons without  the  fear  of  the  people  before  them  neglected  or 
abused  their  trust. 

The  defenders  of  representation  insisted  that  the  only  de- 
sirable remedy  or  check  was  "shorter  parliaments,"  and  they 
proposed  to  limit  the  duration  of  each  Assembly  to  one  or  two 
years,  and  in  some  instances  to  put  in  the  hands  of  the  people 
the  right  of  dissolution  as  well  as  the  election  of  the  executive. 

But  the  democrats  refused  to  be  put  off  with  reforms  which 
in  their  judgment  were  not  even  half  measures.  They  insisted 
that  "the  people  must  have  the  right  of  initiating,  discussing, 
and  sanctioning,  their  own  laws,"  and  that  in  order  to  achieve 


62  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

this  end  the  rights  of  referendum  and  initiative  must  be 
secured. 

The  controversy  leading  to  the  adoption  of  the  referendum 
took  shape  first  in  St.  Gall,  in  the  form  of  a  demand  made  by 
the  democrats  that  the  sovereignty  of  the  people  should  be 
stamped  upon  all  laws  and  that  it  should  be  the  fount  of  origin 
for  new  laws.  The  agitation  for  the  initiative  was  thus  coeval 
with  that  for  the  referendum,  and  the  " thinkers"  of  the  move- 
ment, at  any  rate,  saw  and  urged  their  linkage  in  the  framework 
of  democracy. 

But  since  it  is  more  important  to  stop  what  you  do  not  like 
than  to  secure  what  you  do  like,  the  logic  of  events  gave  priority 
to  the  referendum,  which  is  in  effect  a  power  of  veto  upon  the 
laws  submitted  under  it. 

Referendum  in  the  form  of  a  veto  *  was  first  established  in 
the  Constitution  adopted  by  St.  Gall  in  1831,  and  the  following 
Articles  are  of  importance  as  a  formal  expression  of  the  reasons 
and  sentiments  which  operated  in  its  adoption. 

Art.  2.  The  people  of  the  canton  are  sovereign.  Sover- 
eignty, which  is  the  sun  of  all  the  political  powers,  resides  in 
the  whole  body  of  the  citizens. 

Art.  3.  It  results  from  this  that  the  people  themselves  exer- 
cise the  legislative  powers,  and  every  law  is  submitted  to  their 
sanction.  This  sanction  is  the  right  of  the  people  to  refuse  to 
recognise  any  law  submitted  to  them,  and  to  prevent  its  execu- 
tion in  virtue  of  their  sovereign  power. 

Art.  135.  The  approval  of  laws  reserved  to  the  people  by 
Art.  3  of  the  Constitution  applies,  namely: 

1 "  The  essential  difference  between  the  veto  and  the  referendum  consists  in 
the  fact  that  in  the  latter  the  fate  of  a  law  is  determined  by  the  majority  of  the 
votes  actually  cast,  while  in  the  veto  a  law  is  rejected  only  in  case  a  majority 
of  all  the  registered  voters  have  voted  in  the  negative.  In  other  words,  the 
men  who  do  not  vote  at  the  referendum  are  neglected,  while  in  the  veto  they 
are  treated  as  if  they  had  voted  affirm  atively." 

Lowell  Governments  and  Parties,  Vol.  II,  p.  249. 


CHECKS  ON  REPRESENTATIVE  SYSTEM       63 

(a)  To  all  branches  of  legislation,  civil  and  criminal,  and  to 
the  treaties  which  refer  to  these  subjects. 

(b)  To  all  fiscal  laws  of  general  import. 

(c)  To  the  laws  relating  to  the  administration  of  the  com- 
munes. 

(d)  To  all  laws  on  military  matters. 

Art.  136.  The  laws  mentioned  above  come  into  force  forty- 
five  days  after  their  publication,  if  the  people  have  not  refused 
to  sanction  them  before  the  expiration  of  this  time. 

Art.  137.  As  soon  as  fifty  citizens  of  a  political  commune 
demand  it,  a  communal  assembly  must  be  held  to  decide  whether 
the  law  submitted  to  them  shall  be  opposed  or  not. 

Art.  138.  If  the  majority  of  the  communal  assembly  resolve 
to  raise  no  opposition,  the  law  is  considered  to  be  approved  by 
the  commune.  In  the  contrary  case,  the  Amman  of  the  com- 
mune shall  communicate  the  result  at  once  to  the  Amman  of 
the  district,  and  he  in  his  turn  shall  advise  the  Small  Council 
by  sending  them  a  copy  of  the  report  of  the  meeting. 

Art.  139.  This  document  shall  indicate  the  number  of  active 
citizens  in  the  commune  who  have  respectively  voted  for  or 
against  the  proposed  law.  Non-voters  are  classed  as  voting  in 
the  affirmative. 

Art.  141.  If  the  number  of  those  who  have  rejected  a  law 
exceed  (half?)  the  total  number  of  citizens  (sic)  by  one,  the 
law  falls  through.1 

In  other  words,  the  St.  Gall  amendment  adopted  by  the 
people  gave  to  the  majority  of  the  registered  voters  the  power 
to  veto  laws  passed  by  the  Grand  Council.  Unless  so  vetoed, 
laws  passed  into  effect  without  express  endorsement  by  the 
popular  vote. 

The  example  of  St.  Gall  was  followed  next  year  by  Rural 
Bale  (where  the  veto,  however,  required  a  vote  of  two  thirds 
of  the  registered  voters),  in  1839  by  the  Valais,  and  in  1841  by 

1  Quoted  Deploige,  p.  72. 


64  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

Lucerne.  But  this  veto  stood  on  no  firm  democratic  footing, 
and  though  several  other  cantons  toyed  with  it,  it  soon  gave 
way  before  the  superior  democratic  claims  of  the  referendum, 
by  means  of  which  the  people  expressed  their  assent  or  dissent 
by  a  majority,  not  of  registered  voters  but  of  actual  voters. 

Valais  was  the  first  to  adopt  the  referendum  in  its  most  strin- 
gent form,  a  constitutional  amendment  of  1846  requiring  all 
laws  to  be  submitted  for  acceptance  or  rejection  to  the  popular 
vote.  This  general  referendum  was,  however,  found  too 
legicidal,  and  it  gave  way  in  1852  to  a  strictly  limited  referendum 
on  finance.  In  1845,  Vaud,  and  in  1846  Berne,  established  a 
referendum  at  the  option  of  the  Great  Council.  But  these 
were  timid  experiments  which  shortly  yielded  to  a  bolder  policy. 

Between  1850  and  1870  most  of  the  German  cantons  adopted 
the  referendum,  either  in  its  obligatory  form  requiring  all  laws 
(with  certain  named  exceptions)  to  be  submitted  to  the  popular 
vote,  or  in  what  is  termed  the  optional  form  by  which  a  vote 
can  be  demanded  on  the  petition  of  a  certain  number  of  citizens. 

More  slowly  the  French  and  Italian  cantons  fell  into  line, 
until  by  1880  all,  with  the  single  exception  of  Freiburg,  possessed 
some  form  of  referendum  for  ordinary  laws. 

In  1874  the  Confederation  itself  established  an  optional 
referendum. 

The  actual  position  of  the  referendum  with  date  of  adoption 
as  an  instrument  in  Swiss  government  is  summarised  by 
Deploige  in  the  following  convenient  table : 

Confederation Optional    1874 

Zurich    Obligatory 1869 

Berne Obligatory 1869 

Lucerne Optional    1869 

Schwyz Obligatory  (general)   1848  and  1876 

Optional  (treaties) 

Zug Optional    1877 

Freiburg    None 

Soleure Obligatory 1869  (optional,  1856) 


CHECKS   ON  REPRESENTATIVE  SYSTEM       65 

Bale,  City   Optional    1875 

Bale,  Rural Obligatory 1863 

Schaffhausen Obligatory 1895  (optional,  1876) 

St.  Gall   Optional    1861   and   1875    (but 

Federal  Ref.  before) 

Grisons    Obligatory 1852 

Aargau Obligatory 1870 

Thurgau    Obligatory 1869 

Ticino    Optional    1883  and  1892 

Vaud    Optional  (general) 1885 

Obligatory  (finance)    1861 

Valais Obligatory 1852 

Neufchatel Optional    1879  (obligatory 

finance,  1858) 
Geneva Optional    1879 

If  the  will  of  the  people  is  to  be  really  paramount  as  the 
determinant  factor  in  specific  acts  of  government,  it  is  evident 
that  this  object  is  not  fully  attained  by  any  sort  of  referendum 
merely  enabling  the  people  to  express  their  judgment  upon 
measures  which  have  originated  in  the  Assembly.  Such  a 
referendum  enables  them  to  veto  legislative  or  certain  executive 
proposals  from  which  they  dissent;  it  confers  upon  them  no 
power  of  giving  effect  to  their  positive  desires  and  judgments. 
If  the  people  is  really  to  rule,  it  must  be  able  to  propose  as  well 
as  to  express  assent  and  dissent.  The  power  of  initiating 
legislative  and  constitutional  changes  is  inherent  in  the  logic 
of  democracy. 

That  the  "sovereignty  of  the  people"  implies  the  right  to 
propose  and  carry  out  changes  in  the  Constitution  of  their 
state  is  tolerably  obvious.  Every  cantonal  Constitution  admits 
this  right;  in  every  canton  save  Geneva,  a  specified  number  of 
citizens  can  demand  at  any  time  that  the  question  of  a  con- 
stitutional reform  shall  be  referred  to  popular  vote.  This 
constitutional  initiative  is  qualified  in  the  case  of  Geneva  by 
the  proviso  that  the  question  of  revision  shall  be  brought  before 


66  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

the  people  periodically  every  fifteen  years ;  in  the  case  of  Schaff- 
hausen  no  specific  but  only  a  general  revision  of  the  Constitu- 
tion can  be  proposed  by  means  of  the  initiative. 

But  the  democratic  wave  which  swept  over  the  country 
after  i860  carried  popular  control  beyond  the  constitutional 
initiative.  It  must  be  possible  for  the  people,  when  they 
desire  positive  legislation,  to  compel  the  Assembly  to  discuss 
concrete  proposals  and  to  submit  them  to  the  popular  vote. 
Otherwise  the  referendum  only  operates  as  a  veto,  not  as  a 
creative  force  in  legislation.  The  right  of  petition,  by  which 
in  most  countries  with  parliamentary  institutions  specific 
measures  commanding  some  popular  support  are  urged  upon 
legislative  assemblies,  was  not  satisfactory  to  Swiss  democrats. 
The  "people"  must  be  endowed  with  a  power  of  initiating  laws 
concurrently  with  the  Assembly. 

Though  the  initiative  is  in  fact  complementary  to  the  refer- 
endum, its  introduction  into  the  cantonal  constitutions  was 
due  to  a  separate  democratic  impulse.  It  was  first  adopted  by 
Vaud  in  1845,  followed  by  Aargau  in  1852,  before  either  of 
these  cantons  had  a  referendum  for  ordinary  laws.  At  that 
time  it  was  regarded,  not  as  an  instrument  of  direct  popular 
legislation,  but  as  a  form  of  mandatory  petition,  designed  to 
keep  the  Assembly  in  closer  touch  with  the  popular  will  by 
compelling  it  to  take  up  questions  that  had  aroused  popular 
desire. 

The  legislative  initiative  has  now  been  adopted  by  every 
canton  with  three  exceptions,  Lucerne,  Valais,  and  Freiburg. 
It  means  that  any  citizen  who  desires  to  propose  a  law,  and  who 
can  secure  the  assent  of  a  sufficient  number  of  his  fellow  citizens 
to  the  draft  he  has  prepared,  can  compel  the  Assembly  to  con- 
sider the  proposal,  to  report  upon*  it,  and  finally  to  submit  ft 
to  a  referendum. 

The  effect  of  the  initiative  is  to  endow  the  people  with  a  full 
power  of  legislation  independently  of  the  Assembly.     Every 


CHECKS  ON  REPRESENTATIVE  SYSTEM       67 

law  proposed  and  passed  by  the  Assembly  may  or  must  require 
the  express  sanction  of  the  people  before  it  becomes  operative, 
but  a  law  proposed  and  passed  by  the  people  requires  no  cor- 
responding sanction  of  the  Assembly.  When  the  people  chooses, 
the  Assembly  is  converted  from  a  truly  legislative  into  a  merely 
deliberative  and  advisory  body,  dependent  for  its  power  on 
purely  "moral"  influence.  The  people  using  the  initiative 
and  the  referendum  may  legislate  above  the  heads  of  the 
Assembly. 

"The  people  exercise  the  law-making  power  with  the  assist- 
ance of  the  state  legislature,"  is  the  terse  description  of  the 
position,  as  laid  down  in  the  Zurich  Constitution. 

The  introduction  of  the  initiative  into  the  Federal  Consti- 
tution was  later  and  is  far  less  complete.  Though  an  initiative 
for  ordinary  legislation  was  proposed  in  the  Constitution  drawn 
up  by  the  Federal  Assembly  in  1872,  that  provision  was  not 
embodied  in  the  Constitution  actually  adopted  in  1874.  Thus 
the  initiative  was  confined  to  constitutional  revision,  and  when 
an  attempt  was  made,  in  1880,  to  introduce  a  particular  amend- 
ment endowing  the  federation  with  a  monopoly  of  the  issue  of 
bank  notes,  the  Federal  Assembly  decided  that  the  application 
of  the  constitutional  initiative  could  only  apply  to  revision  of 
the  Constitution  as  a  whole,  no  specific  proposal  being  valid. 

After  long  debate  an  article  was  adopted  in  1891,  allowing 
particular  amendments  of  the  Constitution  to  be  proposed  by 
the  initiative  and  to  be  put  to  a  referendum.  How  far  this 
amendment  does  in  fact  allow  the  proposal  of  federal  laws  by 
initiative  depends  upon  the  delicate  question  of  the  delimita- 
tion of  laws  and  particular  constitutional  amendments,  and 
cannot  be  here  discussed. 

II 

Having  given  this  brief  general  account  of  the  nature  and 
historic  origin  of  the  referendum  and  the  initiative,  the  two 


68  A  SOVEREIGN   PEOPLE 

chief  co-operative  instruments  of  direct  popular  government, 
it  is  desirable  to  indicate  with  more  precision  the  actual  amount 
of  control  over  the  representative  element  thus  conveyed,  and 
the  methods  of  its  exercise. 

We  will  deal  first  with  the  governments  of  the  cantons,  dis- 
cussing popular  control,  first  over  constitutional,  then  over 
legislative,  action. 

Constitutional  Changes 

The  general  principle  which  governs  changes  in  cantonal 
constitutions  is  laid  down  by  Article  6  of  the  Federal  Consti- 
tution of  1 8  74. 

''The  Cantons  are  obliged  to  obtain  the  guaranty  of  their 
constitutions  from  the  Confederation.  This  guaranty  is  given 
on  condition  that  these  Constitutions  have  previously  been 
accepted  by  the  people,  and  that  they  may  be  revised  when  an 
absolute  majority  of  the  citizens  demand  it." 

This  article  asserts  in  general  terms  the  popular  initiative 
and  referendum  as  the  method  of  constitutional  revision. 

Every  cantonal  Constitution  contains  a  provision  for  the 
exercise  of  this  popular  right  and  prescribes  the  number 
of  signatures  necessary  to  give  validity  to  a  demand  for 
revision. 

The  numbers  van-  widely  in  the  various  cantons.  In  Glarus 
and  Appenzell  (In  R.)  one  person  can  initiate  revision,  in 
Zurich  one  person  supported  by  one  third  of  the  Council;  in 
St.  Gall  the  number  is  10,000  (about  one  fifth  of  the  entire  body 
of  citizens);  in  Berne,  15,000  (about  one  eighth). 

The  popular  initiative  is  applicable  either  to  a  total  or  a 
partial  revision  of  the  Constitution.  In  the  case,  however,  of  a 
general  revision,  the  people  cannot  in  any  canton  initiate  the 
form  of  the  revision,  they  can  only  instruct  the  government  to 
prepare  a  draft.  The  order  of  procedure  for  general  revision 
is  this:   When  the  requisite  number  of  electors  has  demanded 


CHECKS   ON  REPRESENTATIVE  SYSTEM       69 

revision,  the  government  puts  to  the  people  by  referendum  the 
question,  "Do  you  desire  a  general  revision?" 

In  the  case  of  an  affirmative  vote,  the  duty  devolves  either 
upon  the  Great  Council,  or  upon  a  specially  summoned  Con- 
stituent Assembly,  to  prepare  a  draft  of  the  constitutional 
revision. 

In  certain  cantons,  Aargau,  Rural  Bale,  Freiburg,  Geneva, 
Lucerne,  Schwyz,  and  Solothurm,  revision  is  always  under- 
taken by  a  Constituent  Assembly ;  in  the  case  of  others,  Bale  City, 
Berne,  St.  Gall,  Neufchatel,  Schaffhausen,  Ticino,  Thurgau, 
Vaud,  and  Valais,  the  people  decides  in  the  preliminary  voting 
whether  the  Grand  Council  or  a  Constituent  Assembly  shall 
revise.  In  the  Grisons  a  vote  is  taken  on  the  question  whether 
the  existing  Grand  Council  shall  be  dissolved  and  another 
elected  to  make  the  revision. 

An  absolute  majority  of  the  electors  actually  voting  deter- 
mines whether  the  revision  shall  take  place,  save  in  Lucerne 
where  the  majority  must  be  a  majority  of  the  registered  voters. 

When  the  Grand  Council  or  the  Constitutional  Assembly 
has  prepared  the  draft  of  a  revised  Constitution,  it  is  submitted 
to  a  referendum,  and  comes  into  force  when  a  majority  of  the 
electors  has  accepted  it.  The  majority  here  also  is  of  the 
actual  voters,  except  in  the  case  of  Zug,  where  it  is  of  registered 
voters. 

There  are  thus  two  referendums  necessary  to  secure  a  revision, 
one  to  determine  that  a  revision  shall  take  place,  another  to 
accept  the  proposed  revision.  Nowhere  is  it  left  to  the  people 
to  draft  the  form  of  the  general  revision. 

The  case  of  partial  or  particular  amendments  of  the  Con- 
stitution is  somewhat  different. 

The  statutory  number  of  citizens  favouring  an  amendment 
may  proceed  in  either  of  two  ways,  "a  general  motion"  (ein- 
fache  Anregung)  or  by  a  bill  drafted  by  themselves  (ausgear- 
beiteter  Entwurf). 


70  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

If  a  proposed  amendment  is  put  into  the  shape  of  "a  general 
motion,"  it  may  be  brought  before  the  people  at  once,  in  certain 
cantons,  the  Grand  Council  reporting  favourably  or  adversely 
upon  it.  If  the  people  accepts,  the  Council  must  carry  out  the 
revision. 

In  certain  cantons,  viz.,  Zurich,  Berne,  Aargau,  Lucerne, 
Bale  City,  and  Solothurm,  the  Council,  if  it  agrees  with  the 
proposal,  may  draft  the  article  without  more  ado;  if  it  does  not 
agree,  it  must  submit  the  question  to  the  people,  and,  in  the 
event  of  the  acceptance  of  the  motion,  must  draft  the  revision. 

In  three  cantons,  Schwyz,  Ticino,  and  SchafThausen,  it  is 
obligatory  on  the  Council  to  draft  a  revision  in  the  sense  of  the 
motion  submitted  to  it,  and  to  present  this  revision  to  be  voted 
upon  in  a  referendum. 

In  some  cantons,  including  Zurich  and  Berne,  it  is  open  to 
the  initiators  of  a  constitutional  amendment  to  proceed  by  bill. 
In  this  case  the  Council  must  submit  the  bill  as  it  stands  to  the 
people  for  acceptance  or  rejection,  though  in  a  few  cantons, 
viz.,  Zurich,  Schaffhausen,  Grisons,  Ticino,  and  Solothurm,  it 
is  open  to  the  government  to  present  a  counter  proposal  which 
is  also  voted  on.  Partial  revisions  are  usually  undertaken  by 
the  Grand  Council,  though  in  a  few  cantons  the  people  deter- 
mine whether  a  partial  as  well  as  a  total  revision  shall  be  sub- 
mitted to  a  Constituent  Assembly. 

A  partial  amendment  of  the  Constitution,  initiated  by  the 
people,  can  thus  become  operative  after  acceptance  by  a  single 
popular  voting. 

Both  in  the  case  of  a  general  and  a  partial  amendment  of  the 
Constitution  the  Grand  Council  may  initiate  and  propose  such 
amendments.  They  may  do  so  upon  their  own  authority  in 
Zurich,  Zug,  Valais,  Thurgau,  Grisons,  Solothurm,  and  Ap- 
penzell  (In  Rh.);  in  certain  other  cantons,  Berne,  Schwyz, 
Glarus,  Schaffhausen,  Appenzell  (outer  Rh.),  St.  Gall,  and 
Aargau,  they  may  undertake  partial  but  not  general  revisions 


CHECKS  ON  REPRESENTATIVE  SYSTEM       71 

without  consent  of  the  people;  elsewhere,  Freiburg,  Obwald, 
Nidwald,  Bale  (Rural),  Neufchatel,  and  Ticino,  the  Grand 
Council  must  obtain  the  consent  of  the  people  before  under- 
taking either  general  or  partial  revision.  In  every  case  the 
final  ratification  of  the  amendment  rests  with  the  people. 

While  a  general  revision  is  voted  en  bloc  at  the  referendum,  a 
partial  revision  is  sometimes  submitted  in  various  compart- 
ments, according  to  the  articles  of  the  Constitution  affected,  or 
according  to  some  grouping  of  the  proposed  amendments. 

The  popular  rights  are  thus  seen  to  comprise  full  power  on 
the  part  of  a  majority  of  the  voters  in  a  canton,  to  accept  or 
reject  any  changes  in  their  Constitution,  and  on  the  part  of  any 
substantial  body  of  citizens  to  compel  the  submission  of  any 
amendment  to  the  vote  of  the  people. 

A  bare  majority  of  the  actual  voters  can  at  any  time  alter  the 
constitution  of  their  canton  within  such  limits  as  are  laid  down 
in  the  Federal  Constitution. 

The  popular  right  of  legislation  is,  as  we  have  seen,  secured 
in  almost  all  the  cantons  by  the  use  of  the  initiative  and  the 
referendum. 

In  every  canton,  save  three,  a  substantial  body  of  electors 
(varying  in  size  from  1000  in  Zug,  Bale  City  and  Schaffhausen, 
to  6000  in  Vaud)  can,  by  signing  their  names  to  a  demand  for  a 
legislative  change,  compel  the  government  to  submit  the  ques- 
tion to  a  referendum  and  to  carry  out  the  will  of  the  people 
thus  expressed.  This  legislative  initiative  may  take  the  shape 
(1)  of  proposing  a  new  law  (except  in  Rural  Bale),  (2)  of  re- 
pealing or  amending  an  existing  law  (excepting  Schaffhausen), 
or  (3)  of  proposing  a  decree  or  resolution  (except  in  Schwyz, 
Aargau,  and  Schaffhausen). 

The  promoters  of  the  initiative  may  express  their  legislative 
demand  in  general  terms,  or  they  may  formulate  it  in  a  bill. 

If  the  initiative  takes  the  former  shape,  it  is  a  general  instruc- 
tion to  the  Grand  Council  either  to  draft  a  bill  and  submit  it  to 


72  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

the  people  (Schaffhausen  and  Thurgau),  or  first  to  submit  to 
the  people  the  question  whether  the  Grand  Council  shall  con- 
sider and  draft  a  bill  afterwards  to  be  submitted  to  the  people. 
In  most  cantons,  however,  the  modus  operandi  is  this:  The 
Grand  Council  considers  the  initiated  proposal,  and,  if  it  ap- 
proves, drafts  a  law  and  submits  it  to  the  people;  if  it  disap- 
proves, it  submits  the  original  demand  to  the  people,  and  if  the 
people  accepts,  then  the  Council  drafts  the  law. 

Thus  the  disapproval  of  the  Grand  Council  involves  two 
referendums  instead  of  one,  before  the  initiated  motion  becomes 
law. 

The  more  advanced  democratic  instrument  is  the  proposal 
by  bill,  known  as  the  "formulated  initiative."  Here  the  bill 
drafted  by  a  body  of  citizens  must  be  presented  as  it  stands  to  a 
referendum.  The  Council,  when  it  disapproves  the  bill,  can 
present  at  the  same  time  a  counter  proposal  or  a  recommenda- 
tion that  the  bill  be  rejected.  The  use  of  the  "formulated 
initiative"  has  gained  considerable  way  in  the  cantonal  gov- 
ernments. The  cantons  that  give  formal  recognition  to  it  are 
Zurich,  Solothurm,  St.  Gall,  Geneva,  Berne,  Schaffhausen,  the 
Grisons,  Bale  City,  and  Ticino;  but  the  constitutions  of  the  other 
cantons  do  not  exclude  it,  and  the  advanced  democrats  every- 
where favour  the  recognition  of  this  simplest  and  completest 
form  of  direct  government. 

So  far  as  the  initiative  is  actually  used,  it  forms  the  strongest 
invasion  upon  the  practice  of  representative  government.  For 
even  in  the  case  of  the  general  initiative  the  business 
of  the  Council  is  cut  down  to  that  of  a  drafting  com- 
mittee, while  the  "formulated  initiative"  converts  it  into 
a  mere  instrument  of  formal  registration,  except  so  far 
as  the  recommendation  of  the  Council  carries  moral  weight 
with  the  electorate. 

Measures  which  originate  in  the  popular  initiative  proceed 
as  a  matter  of  course  to  the   referendum  for  acceptance  or 


CHECKS  ON  REPRESENTATIVE  SYSTEM       73 

rejection.  But  the  Council  retains  a  concomitant  power  of 
proposing  legislation,  and  in  point  of  fact  most  bills  originate 
in  the  Council:  the  popular  initiative  in  the  cantons  has  never 
yet  been  largely  used.  In  all  the  cantons  except  one  most 
ordinary  legislative  proposals  of  importance  must  receive  the 
direct  sanction  of  the  people  through  a  referendum,  and  the 
referendum  thus  ranks  as  the  potent  instrument  of  popular  con- 
trol over  the  representative  system. 

In  some  cantons  the  referendum  is  obligatory,  in  others 
optional.  To  the  former  class  belong  Zurich,  Berne,  Schwyz, 
Solothurm,  SchafThausen,  the  Grisons,  Aargau,  Thurgau, 
Valais,  and  Rural  Bale.  In  most  cases,  this  implies  that  all 
laws,  certain  treaties,  certain  administrative  decrees,  must 
receive  the  endorsement  of  a  popular  vote  before  they  are  valid. 
In  all  these  instances,  finance  is  expressly  reserved  for  the 
people  in  the  sense  that  every  estimate  of  expenditure  exceed- 
ing a  certain  sum  must  be  approved  by  the  people.  Where, 
however,  the  entire  state  budget  has  been  submitted  to  the 
people,  as  formerly  in  Berne  and  Aargau,  the  public  embar- 
rassment caused  by  an  adverse  vote  proved  so  great  that  the 
practice  was  abandoned. 

It  is  important  to  recognise  what  are  the  acts  of  government 
commonly  or  universally  withheld  from  the  referendum.  They 
may  be  considered  to  fall  under  two  heads:  first,  those  acts 
which,  by  reason  either  of  urgency  or  intricacy  of  special  detail, 
are  assigned  by  the  cantonal  constitutions  to  the  Grand  Council: 
secondly,  others  which  custom  or  common  consent  has  usually 
secured  to  them.  Urgent  decrees  relating  to  public  safety, 
certain  treaties,  appointments  of  minor  officials,  expenditure  or 
borrowing  of  small  sums,  are  commonly  within  the  formal 
competence  of  the  Grand  Council. 

Where  the  optional  referendum  exists,  viz.,  in  Lucerne,  Zug, 
St.  Gall,  Vaud,  Neufchatel,  Geneva,  and  Bale  City,  the  popular 
power  is  not  in  substance  less  than  where  the  compulsory 


74  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

system  operates.  For  the  option  to  compel  the  submission  of 
an  issue  to  the  people  is  vested  in  a  popular  initiative. 

In  Zug,  500  citizens  can  secure  a  referendum,  1000  in  Bale 
City,  2500  in  Geneva,  3000  in  Neufchatel,  4000  in  St.  Gall, 
5000  in  Lucerne  and  Ticino,  6000  in  Vaud.  It  is  evident  that 
wherever  a  majority  of  the  people  is  actively  opposed  to  a 
measure  they  are  able  to  secure  its  rejection,  though  a  practical 
check  of  some  importance  is  furnished  by  the  provision  that 
the  demand  for  a  referendum  must  be  presented  within  a  space 
of  time  varying  from  thirty  days  to  six  weeks  after  the  official 
publication  of  the  law,  decree,  resolution,  or  treaty  in 
question. 

In  certain  cases  the  Grand  Council,  or  a  quorum  of  its  mem- 
bers, has  also  an  option  to  compel  the  submission  of  a  measure 
to  the  referendum,  but  this  privilege  is  seldom  used. 

Whether  the  referendum  is  compulsory  or  optional,  the 
voting  usually  takes  place  on  a  Sunday  in  the  spring  or  autumn 
or  both.  In  most  cantons  there  are  at  least  two  votings  in  the 
year,  and  since  the  rule  prevails  in  Berne  and  elsewhere,  that 
the  Great  Council  may  summon  an  extraordinary  voting,  the 
citizens  in  these  cantons  may  be  called  upon  to  vote  three  times 
or  even  more. 

The  referendum,  whether  taken  by  itself  or  with  the  initia- 
tive, must  be  considered  as  establishing  the  actual  sovereignty 
of  the  people  in  concrete  and  individual  acts  of  government. 
With  the  exception  of  such  powers  as  the  popular-created 
Constitution  expressly  reserves  for  the  Grand  Council,  the 
people  sets  its  seal  upon  all  important  legislative  and  adminis- 
trative acts.  In  form  the  referendum  implies  rather  the  sup- 
pression rather  than  a  control  of  the  representative  system, 
reducing  the  Council  to  a  merely  drafting  or  advising  board. 
In  reality,  however,  the  Councils  manage  to  retain  a  consider- 
able measure  both  of  legislative  and  administrative  power. 
The  people  cannot,  of  course,  follow  in  detail  the  intricacies  of 


CHECKS  ON  REPRESENTATIVE  SYSTEM       75 

modern  government,  even  within  the  tolerably  narrow  con- 
fines of  a  rural  canton ;  not  only  many  matters  of  detail  must  be 
left  to  the  representatives  and  permanent  officials,  but  many 
important  acts  of  policy  which  appeal  to  no  strong  interest  or 
feeling  rest  with  them. 


CHAPTER  VI 

DIRECT  DEMOCRACY  IN  THE  FEDERATION 

Before  tracing  the  direct  powers  exercised  by  the  people  in 
the  federal  government  of  Switzerland,  it  is  desirable  to  in- 
dicate the  extent  of  the  legislative  and  executive  competency 
of  the  Confederation.  The  legislative  powers  assigned  by  the 
Constitution  of  1874  are  very  large.  They  include:  (1)  The 
organisation  and  administration  of  the  army.  (2)  Superin- 
tendence of  dyke  and  forest  police.  (3)  Legislative  Control  of 
hunting  and  fishing.  (4)  Construction  and  management  of 
railroads.  (5)  Customs.  (6)  Sanitary  and  protective  legisla- 
tion in  factories  and  other  industries.  (7)  Control  of  emi- 
gration and  insurance.  (8)  Legal  restrictions  on  issue  and 
redemption  of  bank  notes.  (9)  The  civil  law  and  procedure. 
(10)  Criminal  law  and  procedure.     (11)  Electoral  legislation.1 

Mr.  Lowell  comparing  Swiss  with  American  federal  govern- 
ment, writes  thus : 2 

"The  legislative  authority  of  the  national  government  is 
much  more  extensive  in  Switzerland  than  in  this  country,  for 
in  addition  to  the  powers  conferred  on  Congress  it  includes 
such  subjects  as  the  regulation  of  religious  bodies  and  the  ex- 
clusion of  monastic  orders,  the  manufacture  and  sale  of  alco- 
holic liquors,  the  prevention  of  epidemics  and  epizootics,  the 
game  laws,  the  construction  and  operation  of  all  railroads,  the 
regulation  of  labour  in  factories,  the  compulsory  insurance  of 
workmen,  the  collection  of  debts  and  the  whole  range  of  com- 

1  Cf.  Deploige,  112. 

2  Governments  and  Parties,  Vol.  II,  187. 

76 


DIRECT   DEMOCRACY  IN  FEDERATION        77 

mercial  law.  Besides  all  this,  the  central  legislature  is  given 
power  to  interfere  in  other  matters  which  are  not  directly 
subject  to  its  control.  The  streams  and  forests  and  the  most 
important  roads  and  bridges,  for  example,  are  placed  under  its 
supervision;  and  the  cantonal  laws  on  the  press,  and  on  the 
right  to  acquire  a  settlement  and  vote  on  communal  affairs, 
must  be  submitted  to  it  for  approval." 

As  regards  administration  the  federal  laws  are  usually  car- 
ried out  by  cantonal  authorities.  "Except  for  foreign  affairs, 
the  custom  house,  the  postal  and  telegraph  services,  the  alcohol 
monopoly,  the  polytechnic  school,  and  the  arsenals,  the  federal 
government  has  scarcely  any  direct  executive  functions,  but 
acts  in  the  way  of  inspection  and  supervision." 

Federal  power  of  interference  with  local  administration  is, 
however,  very  great.  The  Confederation,  for  instance,  is  em- 
powered to  compel  the  cantons  to  furnish  free,  compulsory,  and 
non-sectarian  education,  to  protect  the  franchises  of  the  indi- 
vidual citizen  against  the  infringements  of  local  authorities. 
Still  more  important,  the  federal  government  can  intervene 
of  its  own  accord  in  case  of  internal  disorder,  even  where  not 
invited  to  do  so  by  the  cantonal  authority. 

What  is  the  relation  of  the  people  to  this  Federal  Constitu- 
tion, and  what  are  the  legislative  and  executive  powers  of  the 
federal  government? 

Turning  first  to  the  methods  of  amending  the  Constitution, 
we  find  that  the  people  possesses  co-equal  powers  with  the  houses 
of  the  national  legislature  in  initiating  either  a  general  or  a 
particular  revision.  This  was  not  the  case  before  1891.  Pre- 
vious to  that  date  the  right  of  initiating  particular  amendments 
was  confined  to  joint  action  of  the  two  houses,  though  for 
general  revision  the  initiative  could  be  set  in  motion  by  fifty 
thousand  voters,  or  by  a  single  house  without  the  consent  of 
the  other. 

A   constitutional  amendment   in   1891   conferred  upon  the 


78  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

people  the  same  power  of  initiating  a  particular  revision 
as  they  had  previously  possessed  in  the  case  of  general 
revisions. 

This  amendment,  forming  Article  121  in  the  Federal  Con- 
stitution, reads  as  follows: 

"A  partial  revision  may  take  place  by  means  of  the  popular 
initiative,  or  through  the  forms  prescribed  for  ordinary  federal 
legislation.  The  popular  initiative  consists  in  a  demand  by 
fifty  thousand  Swiss  voters  for  the  addition  of  a  new  article  to 
the  Constitution,  or  the  repeal  or  modification  of  certain  con- 
stitutional articles  already  in  force. 

"  When  the  popular  initiative  is  used  for  the  purpose  of 
amending  or  inserting  various  articles  in  the  Federal  Con- 
stitution, each  modification  or  addition  must  form  the  subject 
of  a  separate  initiative  demand. 

"  When  a  demand  is  couched  in  general  terms,  and  the 
Federal  Assembly  approves  it  in  substance,  it  is  the  duty  of 
that  body  to  draw  up  a  partial  revision  in  the  sense  of  the 
petitioners  and  to  refer  it  to  the  cantons  for  acceptance  or 
rejection. 

"  If  the  Federal  Assembly  does  not  approve  the  proposal, 
then  the  question,  whether  there  shall  be  a  partial  revision  or 
not  must  be  submitted  to  the  vote  of  the  people;  and  if  a 
majority  of  Swiss  citizens  taking  part  in  the  vote  express 
themselves  in  the  affirmative,  the  revision  shall  be  undertaken 
by  the  Federal  Assembly,  in  conformity  with  the  popular 
decision. 

"  When  a  demand  is  presented  in  the  form  of  a  bill  com- 
plete in  all  its  details,  and  the  Federal  Assembly  approve  it, 
the  bill  shall  be  referred  to  the  people  and  the  cantons  for 
acceptance  or  rejection. 

"In  case  the  Federal  Assembly  does  not  agree,  that  body 
may  draft  a  bill  of  its  own,  or  move  that  the  people  reject 
the  demand;  and  it  may  submit  its  own  bill  or  proposal  for 


DIRECT   DEMOCRACY  IN  FEDERATION        79 

rejection  to  the  vote  of  the  people  at  the  same  time  as  the  bill 
emanating  from  the  popular  initiative." 

It  will  be  observed  that  in  every  event  an  amendment,  whether 
general  or  particular,  must  obtain  the  sanction  both  of  a  major- 
ity of  the  voters  taking  part  in  the  referendum  and  of  a  major- 
ity of  the  cantons. 

Here  is  the  combination  of  state  rights  and  democracy  which 
is  characteristic  of  modern  federalism.  No  provision  exists, 
however,  for  a  quorum  of  states  in  setting  the  initiative  in 
operation,  or  in  determining  by  referendum  whether  a  revision 
shall  take  place  in  cases  where  the  Federal  Assembly  disap- 
proves a  general  demand. 

An  absolute  majority  of  voters  and  states  can  thus  effect  any 
alteration  in  the  Federal  Constitution,  general  or  partial,  which 
seems  good  to  them.  The  Federal  Assembly  cannot  prevent 
a  body  of  50,000  citizens  from  submitting  to  the  vote  of  the 
people  any  constitutional  change  they  favour.  Two  impedi- 
ments alone  it  can  present.  When  it  disapproves  a  general 
(unformulated)  demand,  it  can  force  two  votings  to  take  place 
before  effect  is  given  to  such  demand :  first,  a  referendum  to  the 
people  to  decide  whether  a  revision  is  desired,  second,  a  refer- 
endum to  the  people  and  the  cantons  to  sanction  the  actual  form 
of  the  revision. 

The  only  large  formal  defect  in  the  direct  popular  govern- 
ment of  Switzerland  consists  in  the  absence  of  a  popular  ini- 
tiative for  the  introduction  of  federal  laws;  while  fifty  thousand 
voters  may  initiate  any  constitutional  change,  they  cannot  intro- 
duce a  law.  It  is  probably  true  that  this  defect  is  more  formal 
than  real,  and  that,  if  a  sufficiently  urgent  occasion  arose,  the 
distinction  between  a  partial  amendment  of  the  Constitution  and 
an  ordinary  law  cannot  be  so  clearly  marked  as  to  preclude  the 
latter  from  being  introduced  in  the  guise  of  the  former. 

Still  it  remains  a  matter  of  constitutional  and  practical  im- 
portance that  no  initiative  for  federal  legislation  is  directly 


So  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

vested  in  the  people.  All  ordinary  legislation  is  initiated  in 
one  of  the  two  directly  elected  Houses  of  Assembly  (the  National 
Council  and  the  State  Council),  or  in  the  Federal  Council,  or 
in  the  cantonal  governments.  But  all  ordinary  federal  laws 
and  decrees  are  subjected  to  an  optional  referendum. 

The  formal  demand  by  thirty  thousand  citizens,  or  eight  can- 
tons, received  within  three  months  after  the  law  or  decree  has 
passed  the  Chambers,  secures  its  submission  to  a  referendum, 
the  result  of  which  is  determined  by  a  majority  of  actual 
voters  without  regard  to  the  approval  of  the  cantons. 

The  cantonal  unit,  which  is  recognised  in  constitutional 
amendments,  is  thus  disregarded  as  a  factor  in  federal  legisla- 
tion. The  ground  for  this  denial  is,  of  course,  the  fact  that  the 
cantons  by  the  act  of  endowing  the  federal  government  with 
powers  of  legislation  under  the  Constitution  have  intentionally 
deprived  themselves  of  any  right  of  veto  upon  laws  passed 
conformably  with  this  Constitution.  The  fact  remains  that 
laws  can  be  and  have  been  passed  *  by  a  referendum  in  which 
the  majority  of  voters,  validating  the  law,  was  opposed  by  a 
majority  of  the  cantons. 

While  the  popular  right  to  secure  upon  demand  a  referendum 
applies  to  all  federal  laws,  it  does  not  apply  to  all  decrees. 
"Federal  decrees,"  says  the  Constitution,  "which  are  of  general 
application,  and  which  are  not  specially  urgent,  are  likewise 
submitted  upon  demand." 

It  is  evident  that  a  loophole  here  exists  for  evasion  of  a  popular 
vote.  What  is  a  Law,  and  what  a  Decree  ?  There  is  no  defini- 
tion of  these  terms  either  in  the  Federal  Constitution  or  in  the 
law  of  1874,  regulating  the  procedure  of  the  referendum.  The 
determination  of  this  important  question  has  been  conferred 
by  a  law  of  1874  upon  the  Federal  Assembly,  which  is  empow- 
ered to  settle  in  each  case  whether  a  proposal  is  a  law  or  a 

1  e.g.,  The  law  on  marriage,  December,  1874.  The  bankruptcy  law,  Novem- 
ber, 1889. 


DIRECT  DEMOCRACY  IN  FEDERATION       81 

decree,  and  in  the  latter  event  whether  it  is  normal  in  its  applica- 
tion or  urgent. 

Here  is  a  palpable  abridgment  of  the  sovereignty  of  the  people. 
The  Federal  Assembly  by  a  majority  vote  can  decide  that  a 
particular  proposal  is  a  decree  which  shall  not  be  put  before 
the  people  but  which  shall  forthwith  come  into  operation. 

Though  no  clear  determination  of  matters  to  be  withheld 
from  the  referendum  has  been  reached,  certain  subjects  have 
by  custom  been  withheld  since  1874.  Of  these  the  two  most 
important  are,  treaties  with  foreign  states  and  federal  finance 
(including  budgets,  estimates,  and  appropriations  for  war  ma- 
terial). Other  matters  habitually  withheld  are  (1)  resolutions 
applicable  to  special  cases,  such  as  decisions  in  administrative 
disputes;  (2)  resolutions  voting  subsidies  for  such  urgent  public 
works  as  protection  of  rivers  and  construction  of  roads. 

The  institution  of  the  referendum  for  ordinary  legislation 
involves  a  certain  machinery  not  merely  of  voting  but  of  edu- 
cation. All  ordinary  laws  and  decrees,  therefore,  which  have 
been  passed  by  the  Assembly  are  forwarded  to  the  Federal 
Council,  which  publishes  them  and  sends  copies  to  the  cantonal 
governments  for  circulation  among  the  communes.  Thus  the 
people  have  brought  directly  to  their  notice  the  bills  and  decrees 
which  are  amenable  to  a  referendum.  The  method  of  de- 
manding and  applying  the  federal  referendum  is  as  follows: 

As  we  have  seen,  this  demand  may  be  preferred  by  thirty 
thousand  voters  or  by  eight  cantons.  The  latter  method  is  so 
difficult  as  to  be  virtually  inoperative.  The  party  or  interest 
opposed  to  a  law  and  desiring  to  defeat  it  on  a  referendum 
must  within  ninety  days  secure  the  personal  signatures  of  thirty 
thousand  active  citizens.  This  of  course  implies  organisation 
and  canvas,  and  every  signature  must  be  attested  by  the  com- 
munal authorities  of  the  place  where  the  demand  is  signed, 
as  a  guarantee  of  validity.  When  the  petition  is  sent  in,  it  is 
submitted  to  examination  by  the  Federal  Council,  which  is 


82  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

empowered  to  cancel  the  votes  where  there  is  any  informality 
in  the  declaration  or  the  attestation.  If  the  required  number 
of  valid  signatures  is  obtained,  the  Federal  Council  organises 
the  popular  voting,  fixes  and  announces  the  day,  informs  the 
cantonal  Councils  and  secures  the  prompt  circulation  of  the 
law  or  decree  to  be  voted  upon. 

The  bare  text  of  the  law  is  placed  in  the  hands  of  every  voter 
with  no  report  of  the  debates  or  other  explanatory  matter. 

The  voting  takes  place  simultaneously  throughout  the  whole 
country,  and  every  male  citizen  over  twenty  years  of  age  and 
qualified  according  to  his  cantonal  law  is  entitled  to  vote.  The 
voting  paper  simply  contains  the  question,  "  Do  you  accept  the 
Federal  Law  relating  to  (here  the  general  title  of  the  law). 
'  Yes'or'No.'"  The  voter  has  simplyto  write  his"  Yes"or  "No." 

In  order  to  save  time  and  trouble  it  is  usual  for  several  votes 
to  be  taken  at  the  same  time  and  upon  the  same  voting  paper. 

The  following  is  a  copy  of  a  federal  referendum  taken  in  1896, 
containing  as  its  second  item  the  important  law  on  Railroad  Ac- 
counts designed  to  lead  up  to  the  nationalisation  of  the  railroad 
system : 

Votation  Federate  _, 

Bulletin  de  Vote 

pour  LA 

Votation  Populaire  du  4  Octobre,  1896 

Reponse 
Acceptez-vous  la  loi  concernant  la  garantie  des  de"fauts  dans 
le  commerce  des  bestiaux  ?    Oui  ou  non 

Riponse 
Acceptez-vous  la  loi  fe'de'rale  sur  la  comptabilite'  des  chemins 

de  fer  ? Oui  ou  non 

111  Reponse 

Acceptez-vous  la  loi  fe'de'rale  sur  les  peines  disciplinaires  dans 

l'arme'e  suisse  ?    Oui  ou  non 

Remarque.  —  On  doit  re*pondre  se*parement  a  chaque  question. 


DIRECT  DEMOCRACY  IN  FEDERATION       &3 

After  the  voting  each  electoral  district  or  commune  draws  up 
its  report  containing  four  columns,  in  which  are  recorded  (i)  the 
number  of  registered  voters,  (2)  the  number  of  actual  voters, 
(3)  the  number  of  those  voting  "Yes,"  (4)  the  number  of  those 
voting  "No."  These  reports  are  sent  to  be  examined  and 
corrected  by  the  cantonal  government,  which  forwards  them 
within  ten  days  to  the  Federal  Council,  which  calculates  the 
general  result  of  the  vote.  If  a  majority  of  the  voters  has 
approved  the  law  or  order,  the  Federal  Council  forthwith  puts 
it  into  force,  inserting  it  in  the  official  statute  book  of  the  Con- 
federation. The  results  of  the  voting  are  in  all  cases  published 
in  the  Feuille  Federale,  and  the  Federal  Council  reports  them 
to  the  Chambers  at  the  next  session. 

The  popular  control  by  means  of  initiative  and  referendum 
is  distinctly  less  in  legislative  than  in  constitutional  amendment. 

While  a  popular  initiative  exists  for  all  constitutional  amend- 
ments, there  is  no  popular  initiative  for  legislation. 

Whereas  in  constitutional  amendments  the  referendum  is 
obligatory,  in  legislation  it  is  optional,  and  that  option  can  be 
denied  on  the  arbitrary  action  of  the  Assembly  to  certain  orders 
of  enactment. 

On  the  other  hand,  a  legislative  referendum  depends  for  its 
results  upon  a  majority  of  the  voters,  whereas  a  constitutional 
referendum  depends  upon  a  majority  of  the  voters  and  of  the 
cantons. 

This  sketch  of  the  constitutional  powers  of  the  sovereign 
people,  exercised  either  in  the  popular  assemblies  of  the  Ge- 
meinde,  and  the  Landsgemeinde,  or  in  the  wider  areas  of  gov- 
ernment through  the  use  of  the  referendum  and  the  initiative, 
enables  us  to  form  a  judgment  upon  the  formal  structure  of 
Swiss  democracy.  We  see  a  people  making  use  of  representa- 
tive institutions  for  two  general  purposes:  first,  to  relieve  the 
sovereign  people  of  the  labour  of  those  more  complex  and 


84  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

detailed  governmental  functions  which  involve  special  knowl- 
edge and  continuous  attention,  particularly  in  the  realm  of 
administration;  secondly,  to  assist  the  sovereign  will  to  inform 
and  express  itself  by  suggesting,  formulating,  and  discussing 
legislative  and  administrative  changes  to  be  determined  by  the 
people.  To  these  more  general  functions  of  the  representative 
system  should  be  added  the  power  of  safeguarding  the  welfare 
of  the  state  by  measures  of  emergency  when  time  and  oppor- 
tunity are  not  available  for  consulting  the  people. 

The  general  determination,  alike  of  the  course  of  policy  and 
of  specific  acts  of  government,  is  retained  by  the  people,  to  be 
exercised  by  popular  vote,  either  in  open  assembly  or  through 
the  ballot.  It  is  not  a  representative  system  with  popular 
checks,  but  a  system  of  direct  popular  government  with  a  repre- 
sentative machinery. 

The  tendency  of  recent  decades,  as  we  have  seen,  has  favoured 
an  increased  rather  than  a  diminished  assertion  of  the  popular 
control  alike  in  the  cantons  and  in  the  Confederation. 

As  the  necessities  or  expediencies  of  modern  government  have 
placed  more  practical  power  in  the  hands  of  the  Confederation, 
the  instinct  of  self-preservation  in  Swiss  democracy  has  ex- 
pressed itself  in  the  formal  assertion  of  increased  popular  con- 
trol. But  it  is  by  no  means  certain  that  the  real  power  of 
government  can  be  considered  to  be  passing  more  and  more 
into  the  hands  of  the  people,  and  that  the  part  played  by  elected 
representatives  and  more  or  less  permanent  officials  is  dimin- 
ished. 

In  the  structure  of  federal  government  we  can  discern  two 
areas  of  indetermination  in  which  a  struggle  may  or  must 
continue  to  be  waged  between  the  representative  principle 
expressed  in  the  councils  and  the  direct  popular  control. 

The  first  is  the  right  of  the  Assembly,  to  which  allusion  has 
been  made,  to  withdraw  from  popular  reference  any  measure 
which  it  may  choose  to  define  as  a  decree  of  an  urgent  or  a  partial 


DIRECT  DEMOCRACY  IN  FEDERATION       85 

character,  though  it  may  possess  all  the  substance  and  effect  of 
an  ordinary  law.  The  other  is  the  use  of  the  "  formulated 
initiative,"  by  the  people  to  force  the  Council  to  submit  to  a 
referendum  what  is  in  fact  a  new  law,  though  in  form  a  con- 
stitutional amendment. 

Although  the  referendum  and  the  initiative  are  the  principal 
means  by  which  in  the  federal  and  most  of  the  cantonal  govern- 
ments the  popular  control  is  exercised,  if  we  would  understand 
the  power  of  Swiss  democracy  we  must  take  note  of  other 
popular  rights,  and  still  more  important,  the  absence  of  checks 
operative  in  the  United  States  and  other  popularly  governed 
nations. 

Although  the  power  to  "turn  down,"  by  means  of  a  referen- 
dum, obnoxious  measures  of  the  assemblies,  affords  a  general 
protection  against  abuse  of  the  legislative  councils,  short  terms 
of  office  are  the  rule.  The  National  Council  is  elected  for 
three  years,  and  though  the  determination  of  the  period  in  the 
case  of  members  of  the  State  Council,  is  left  to  the  several  can- 
tons, the  length  of  office  varies  between  one  and  four  years, 
with  a  growing  tendency  to  settle  down  at  three,  chiefly  on 
account  of  convenience  of  election. 

In  a  good  many  of  the  cantons  another  check  on  the  repre- 
sentative Assembly  is  furnished,  in  the  shape  of  a  popular  right 
to  force  a  dissolution.  Six  of  the  German  cantons  empower 
the  people  to  demand  by  means  of  a  petition  a  referendum  on 
the  question,  "Shall  the  Great  Council  be  dissolved  or  not?" 
This  right,  however,  has  been  seldom  used  since  the  shortening 
of  the  duration  of  office  and  the  growing  use  of  the  referendum. 

Another  mode  of  forcing  a  dissolution,  alike  of  the  federal  and 
of  the  Cantonal  Council,  exists  in  the  power  of  the  people  to 
demand  a  general  revision  of  the  Constitution.  If  carried,  the 
proposal  involves  a  dissolution  of  the  Grand  Council. 

The  danger  attaching  to  a  Senate  which,  by  excessive  pres- 
sure of  state  rights,  or  by  the  representation  of  special  economic 


86  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

or  social  interests,  may  become  "an  enemy  of  the  people,"  is 
not  very  great  in  Switzerland.  No  such  formal  powers  are 
entrusted  to  this  second  Chamber  as  in  the  United  Sates.  No 
special  functions,  either  in  foreign  or  domestic  policy,  attach  to 
it,  and  it  wields  no  veto  which  cannot  be  overridden  by  a  ref- 
erendum. Its  actual  power  and  reputation  are  diminishing, 
not  growing,  and  young  Swiss  statesmen  commonly  prefer  to 
enter  politics  through  the  National  Assembly  instead  of  through 
the  State  Council  as  formerly. 

Though  the  mode  of  election  of  State  Councillors  is  left  to 
the  cantons,  the  habit  of  direct  election  of  these  Senators  is 
growing.  Ten  cantons  and  six  half  cantons,  one  more  than 
half  the  total  number,  have  adopted  this  method. 

Again,  neither  the  president  of  the  Swiss  Confederation  nor 
the  president  of  any  Cantonal  Council  possesses  any  real  power 
to  determine  legislation.  The  federal  president  is  simply  the 
chairman  of  the  Federal  Council  or  executive,  elected  for  a 
single  year.  He  is  the  titular  head  of  the  state,  and  has  charge 
of  one  of  the  seven  departments  of  government.  As  a  member 
of  the  executive  he  has  equal  powers  with  his  fellow  members 
in  initiating  legislation,  but  as  president  he  has  no  vote  and  no 
veto  of  any  kind.  Both  constitutionally,  and  in  reality,  he  is 
the  weakest  head  of  any  state. 

Finally,  although  the  Swiss  Constitution  contains  a  judicial 
High  Court,  entitled  the  Federal  Tribunal,  which  may  at  first 
sight  seem  to  correspond  to  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States,  it  possesses  in  reality  no  political  power  analogous  to 
that  wielded  by  the  Supreme  Court  in  the  interpretation  of  the 
Constitution.  Even  regarded  as  a  court  of  judgment  for  crim- 
inal and  civil  cases  the  Swiss  Tribunal  is  far  inferior  to  the 
American.  Not  merely  are  its  members  elected  by  the  Federal 
Assembly  for  a  period  of  six  years  only,  but  the  Assembly  has 
severely  circumscribed  its  jurisdiction,  removing  from  its  pur- 
view a  large  list  of  subjects  relating  to  the  administration  of 


DIRECT  DEMOCRACY  IN  FEDERATION       87 

federal  laws,  especially  those  dealing  with  commerce,  educa- 
tion, and  finance.  Since  the  bulk  of  the  administration  of 
federal  laws  is  conducted  through  local  courts  and  officers,  with 
federal  supervision,  the  Federal  Tribunal  does  not  serve  the 
purpose  of  a  court  of  final  appeal. 

Far  more  important  for  our  consideration  here  is  the  fact  that 
the  Federal  Tribunal,  being  bound  by  the  Constitution  to  ad- 
minister every  act  passed  by  the  Federal  Assembly  or  the 
popular  vote,  is  precluded  from  declaring  any  Act  to  be  uncon- 
stitutional. The  competency  of  the  Assembly  and  the  people 
to  pass  and  enforce  laws  is  absolute.  No  law  or  decree,  duly 
passed  by  a  referendum,  can  be  set  aside  by  the  Federal  Tribunal 
on  the  ground  that  it  transgresses  or  conflicts  with  the  Federal 
Constitution,  or  upon  any  other  ground. 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE  NATIONALISATION  OF  THE  RAILROADS 

The  largest  single  achievement  of  federal  democracy  in  Switzer- 
land is  the  acquisition  of  the  railroad  system  of  the  country  for 
public  ownership  and  operation.  Four  out  of  the  five  great 
railroads  of  Switzerland  have  within  the  last  eight  years  been 
acquired  by  the  federal  government,  and  the  fifth,  the  St. 
Gothard,  is  destined  shortly  to  undergo  the  same  fate.  Though 
a  number  of  small  local  lines  still  remain  in  private  hands  their 
practical  control  must  necessarily  pass  into  the  hands  of  the 
state  which  owns  the  main  roads  to  which  they  are  subsidiary. 

This  act  of  policy  has  a  double  significance,  first  as  exhibit- 
ing the  growing  tendency  towards  centralisation,  secondly  as  the 
greatest  of  the  experiments  in  state  socialism  undertaken  by  the 
Swiss  democracy. 

The  rival  contentions  of  those  who  hold  on  the  one  hand  that 
the  referendum,  the  initiative,  and  the  unchecked  power  of  the 
populace  to  determine  concrete  acts  of  policy  must  place  the 
safety  and  the  well-being  of  the  nation  at  the  mercy  of  reckless 
agitators  and  visionary  politicians,  on  the  other  hand,  that  the 
inherent  conservatism  of  the  mass-mind  will  lead  to  the  rejec- 
tion or  injurious  postponement  of  all  important  progressive 
measures,  cannot  be  submitted  to  any  better  practical  test  than 
is  furnished  by  the  history  of  the  nationalisation  of  the  Swiss 
railroads. 

Nowhere  is  the  importance  of  a  well-developed,  cheap,  and 
efficient  railroad  system  greater  than  in  Switzerland,  which  is, 
by  nature,  broken  into  numerous  separate  cultivated  districts, 


NATIONALISATION  OF  RAILROADS  89 

divided  by  mountains  and  lakes  and  often  inaccessible  by  ordi- 
nary roads.  In  every  civilised  country  to-day  the  railroads  are 
the  effective  highways,  and  it  becomes  more  and  more  essential 
to  the  convenience  and  safety  of  the  inhabitants  that  full  public 
control  should  be  exercised  over  these  highways  and  that  private 
gangs  of  highwaymen  should  not  hold  up  travellers  and  freight 
by  arbitrary  imposts. 

The  reasons  why  the  Swiss  people  have  within  the  last  decade 
nationalised  their  railroads  are  two :  first,  because  all  the  wastes, 
inconveniences,  and  dangers  of  private  enterprise  in  this  branch 
of  transport  have  been  brought  home  to  the  minds  of  the  Swiss 
people  with  peculiar  distinctness;  secondly,  because  they  have 
possessed  the  necessary  political  machinery  to  make  the  national 
welfare  prevail  over  vested  interests,  and  the  necessary  intelli- 
gence to  work  this  machinery. 

The  history  of  this  incident  in  modern  Swiss  politics  illus- 
trates, indeed  illuminates,  the  structure  and  working  of  popular 
government  better  than  any  in  our  time. 

In  Switzerland,  as  indeed  in  England  and  elsewhere,  when 
steam  locomotion  was  first  recognised  as  technically  and  econom- 
ically feasible,  serious  consideration  was  given  to  the  question 
whether  railroads  should  not  be  constructed  and  worked  by  the 
state.  In  1849,  when  as  yet  only  a  single  little  railway  *  had 
been  built,  a  petition  in  favour  of  a  national  railroad  system 
was  presented  to  the  Federal  Assembly,  and  a  majority  of  the 
Assembly  voted  to  instruct  the  Federal  Council  to  prepare  and 
submit  a  scheme  for  a  general  system  of  railroads.  Swiss  and 
foreign  experts  were  consulted  by  the  Council:  some  of  these 
favoured  state  construction,  among  them  the  English  engineers 
Stephenson  and  Swinburne,  who  drafted  a  plan  of  railways 
extending  from  Lake  Constance  to  Lake  Geneva,  with  branches; 
others  favoured  construction  by  private  companies  with  state 
subsidies. 

1  A  private  company's  line  from  Zurich  to  Baden  opened  in  1847. 


9o  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

But  though  the  Federal  Council  adopted  the  proposal  of  state 
railways,  to  be  constructed  partly  by  the  Confederation,  partly 
by  the  cantons,  a  proposal  accepted  by  a  commission  of  the 
National  Council,  the  latter  body  itself  decided  against  the 
participation  of  the  federal  government.  The  Railroad  Law 
of  1852  thus  excluded  all  co-operation  of  the  federal  govern- 
ment, leaving  to  the  several  cantons  the  right  of  granting  fran- 
chises to  private  companies.  The  only  active  power  reserved 
by  the  Confederation  was  that  of  compelling  uniformity  in  the 
construction  of  all  railroads  and  of  forbidding  tariff  rates  that 
discriminated  against  adjoining  lines. 

Franchises  granted  by  the  cantons,  however,  were  subject 
to  approval  by  the  Confederation,  the  latter  stipulating  for  a 
right  of  purchase  at  the  end  of  the  period  during  which  the 
franchise  was  operative. 

The  cantons  then  took  the  matter  up,  granting  a  large  number 
of  concessions  to  private  companies.  Most  of  the  capital  was 
found  abroad  and  in  the  early  years  French  capital  was  pre- 
dominant. A  great  many  of  the  cantons  also  subsidised,  and  in 
some  instances  constructed  and  worked  railways  of  their  own. 
Berne,  Neufchatel,  Vaud,  Zurich,  Freiburg,  and  Graubiinden 
have  at  various  times  engaged  the  public  finances  heavily  in 
railroad  enterprises,  Berne  in  particular  becoming  the  possessor 
of  a  large  system  of  minor  roads.  Of  course  this  cantonal  rail- 
way policy  was  in  the  main  confined  to  small  roads  within  the 
limits  of  a  single  canton,  though  the  subvention  of  several  can- 
tons towards  the  St.  Gothard  railway  must  not  be  forgotten. 

That  great  confusion  and  countless  conflicts  should  arise  from 
this  condition  of  affairs  was  inevitable:  cantons  and  railroad 
companies  were  constantly  at  loggerheads,  so  that  the  Con- 
federation was  forced  to  step  in;  loud  complaints  were  raised 
about  irregularities  of  tariffs;  many  companies  whose  lines  had 
become  necessary  modes  of  transport  found  themselves  in 
financial  difficulties  and  demanded  state  support. 


NATIONALISATION  OF  RAILROADS  91 

The  growing  burden  of  these  complaints  became  a  slow  but 
constant  education  for  the  people  in  the  necessity  of  a  unified 
and  publicly  owned  railroad  system.  The  first  man  of  weight 
to  throw  himself  into  the  advocacy  of  this  cause  was  Stampfli, 
the  first  member  of  the  Radical  party  to  gain  entrance  to  the 
Federal  Council,  and  thrice  president  of  the  Confederation. 

His  brochure,  "The  Purchase  of  the  Swiss  Railroads,"  may  be 
said  to  have  brought  the  issue  into  the  field  of  practical  politics 
at  the  beginning  of  the  sixties,  fifty  years  before  the  policy  was 
consummated.  It  is  worth  remarking  that  Stampfli  put  the 
issue  before  the  people  primarily  as  a  business  proposition;  a 
calculation  of  economy  and  public  profit  to  be  obtained  by  con- 
verting company  shares  into  public  debentures.  Several  other 
schemes  for  a  fusion  of  the  numerous  companies  with  a  view 
to  eventual  nationalisation  were  put  forward  from  various 
quarters,  but  met  at  that  time  with  little  popular  support. 

For  the  popular  reluctance  there  were  two  chief  reasons.  The 
first  was  the  one  which  induced  the  Federal  Assembly  at  the 
outset  of  the  railroad  enterprise  to  refuse  all  federal  co-opera- 
tion, viz.,  the  jealousy  of  the  cantons  and  the  people  of  any 
proposal  to  increase  greatly  the  power  of  the  federal  government. 
The  second  was  that  the  terms  of  purchase  fixed  in  the  charters 
of  the  railroads  were  generally  considered  far  too  favourable 
to  the  companies. 

The  lack  of  uniformity  and  the  related  conflicts  of  railroad 
policy  grew  so  troublesome  that  in  1872  the  Confederation  was 
driven  to  pass  a  law  which  greatly  augmented  the  control  of  the 
federal  government,  conferring  upon  it  that  power  to  grant 
franchises  which  had  hitherto  been  left  to  the  cantons,  and  re- 
vising in  its  favour  the  terms  of  purchase  contained  in  the 
several  concessions. 

During  the  seventies  no  further  steps  were  taken.  But  in 
1883  came  the  expiration  of  the  period  for  which  certain  con- 
cessions had  been  granted,  and  the  Federal  Council  was  forced 


92  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

to  take  into  consideration  the  question  whether  or  not  it  should 
advise  the  purchase  of  these  roads. 

In  its  message  (March,  1883)  to  the  Assembly,  it  expressed 
an  adverse  judgment,  based  upon  the  opinion  that  "at  present 
the  purchase  of  the  railroads  could  not  be  undertaken  without 
exposing  the  Confederation  to  great  financial  risks,  while  it  was 
altogether  superfluous  to  consider  other  reasons  for  or  against 
the  taking  over  of  the  railroads  by  the  Confederation." 

While  a  minority  of  the  National  Council  favoured  the  pur- 
chase of  the  "Central"  Railroad  System,  which  was  financially 
the  most  prosperous,  and  whose  charter  gave  terms  of  purchase 
less  unfair  to  the  state,  the  objection  of  the  Federal  Council  to 
the  purchase  proposed  was  upheld  by  the  State  Council,  and 
by  a  small  majority  in  the  National  Council.  But  though  this 
refusal  to  buy  in  1883  meant  the  postponement  of  this  method 
of  state  acquisition  until  1898,  the  idea  of  nationalisation  was 
already  firmly  fixed  in  the  minds  of  democratic  statesmen,  and 
other  means  of  preparing  and  realising  the  policy  were  devised. 

Two  methods  of  advance  occurred  to  the  nationalises.  The 
first  was  known  as  "the  system  of  penetration"  by  which  it  was 
proposed  that  the  government  should,  by  the  purchase  of  stocks, 
become  a  shareholder  in  the  chief  companies,  with  the  view  of 
gaining  eventually  such  voting  control  as  enabled  it  to  im- 
pose a  policy  of  purchase  by  agreement  upon  terms  more 
favourable  to  the  state  than  those  contained  in  the  charters. 

In  pursuance  of  this  project  negotiations  were  entered  upon, 
in  1886,  to  purchase  from  the  Northeastern  a  large  block  of 
shares  on  behalf  of  the  Confederation.  But  the  opposition, 
actuated  partly  by  political,  partly  by  local  considerations,  was 
so  strong  that,  though  terms  of  purchase  had  been  virtually 
fixed,  the  Federal  Council  made  a  pretext  to  withdraw  before 
the  matter  came  up  to  the  Assembly. 

Not  disheartened  by  this  failure  the  Federal  Council  turned 
its  attention  next  to  the  Jura-Simplon  Company,  just  formed, 


NATIONALISATION  OF  RAILROADS  93 

in  1889,  by  a  fusion  of  two  other  companies.  Two  purchases 
of  shares  in  this  company,  approved  by  the  Assembly,  placed 
the  Confederation  in  the  position  of  a  holder  of  77,080  preferred 
shares  in  this  great  railroad  system,  and  a  voting  power  even 
larger  than  the  proportion  of  its  holding  would  imply. 

Emboldened  by  this  success  the  advocates  of  the  penetration 
policy  planned,  at  the  beginning  of  1891,  the  purchase  of  half 
of  the  aggregate  shares  of  the  Central  Railroad,  offered  to  them 
by  a  combination  of  banks.  When  a  price  had  been  provision- 
ally agreed  upon,  the  managers  of  the  Central  Railroad  enlarged 
the  scope  of  the  business  by  offering  to  dispose  of  the  entire 
railroad  system  upon  the  same  terms.  The  Federal  Council 
then  put  before  the  Assembly  the  alternatives  of  a  purchase  of 
half  or  of  the  whole  property.  After  much  discussion  the 
Assembly  declared  in  favour  of  the  purchase  of  the  whole. 

Then  for  the  first  time  the  people  took  a  hand.  The  oppo- 
nents of  purchase  put  in  operation  the  referendum.  They 
included  not  merely  the  conservatives,  who  were  hostile  to 
expansion  of  state  enterprise,  and  the  state- rights  democrats, 
who  disliked  a  centralising  policy,  but  large  numbers  of  voters 
who  were  favourable  to  expropriation  but  objected  to  pay  so 
high  a  price.  The  little  social-democratic  party,  for  example, 
issued  a  manifesto  against  purchase,  based  entirely  upon  the 
extravagant  terms  of  the  deal. 

The  demand  for  a  referendum  was  signed  by  91,698  citizens, 
and  when  the  final  vote  was  taken  the  project  was  rejected  by 
a  vote  of  289,406  against  130,729,  out  of  653,792  registered 
voters. 

This  finished  the  policy  of  penetration  and  threw  the  state- 
railroad  advocates  back  upon  other  methods.  Although  a  pro- 
ject of  compulsory  purchase  upon  a  fair  valuation  which  should 
disregard  existing  franchises  was  mooted  in  some  quarters,  it 
met  with  little  favour  and  never  had  any  chance  of  adoption  in 
a  nation  so  little  addicted  to  revolutionary  methods. 


94  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

It  was  necessary  for  the  movement  to  "go  slow"  in  order  that 
some  scheme  of  purchase  consistent  at  once  with  the  financial 
economy  of  the  state  and  the  recognition  of  the  charter  rights 
of  the  companies  could  be  contrived. 

At  no  time  was  there  any  danger  of  the  referendum  being 
utilised  to  rush  through  any  reckless  policy.  For  the  nationali- 
sation movement  did  not  originate  in  a  popular  agitation  or 
even  in  a  great  party  organisation.  As  we  have  already  indi- 
cated the  real  initiative  for  the  early  proposals  came  from  the 
statesmen  of  the  Federal  Council. 

The  movers  in  the  nationalisation  movement  agreed  that  the 
loose  financial  methods  of  the  railroads,  enabling  them  to  put 
excessive  values  on  their  properties,  constituted  the  chief 
obstacle  to  a  sound  "deal."  And  early  in  1892,  Curti,  of  the 
National  Council,  and  Cornaz,  of  the  State  Council,  carried 
through  the  Assembly  a  motion  to  the  effect  "that  the  Federal 
Council  is  requested  to  institute  a  general  investigation  into 
the  railroad  question  (reform  and  purchase),  and  to  present 
at  the  earliest  opportunity  a  report  and  a  proposal  for  dealing 
with  the  matter  in  any  way  which  commends  itself  to  them." 

Purchase  in  accordance  with  the  terms  of  the  concessions, 
equitably  interpreted,  was  henceforth  the  accepted  mode  of 
procedure. 

The  general  terms  of  the  acts  granting  concessions  to  the 
companies  stipulated  that  in  case  of  purchase  by  the  federal 
government  the  price  paid  was  to  be  twenty-five  times  the  aver- 
age net  earnings  of  the  railway  during  the  ten  years  preceding 
public  notification  of  intention  to  purchase,  with  the  additional 
proviso  that  the  purchase  money  should  in  no  case  be  less  than 
the  amount  of  paid-up  capital  invested  in  the  company. 

Now  these  provisions  regarding  terms  of  purchase  were 
rendered  nugatory  by  the  methods  of  bookkeeping  adopted 
by  the  railroads  which  gave  no  clear  consistent  account  either 
of  net  profits  or  of  "invested  capital."    After  various  prelimi- 


NATIONALISATION  OF  RAILROADS  95 

nary  investigations  the  Federal  Council  presented  to  the  Assembly, 
at  the  end  of  1895,  a  Railroad  Account  Bill,  the  purpose  of  which 
was  formally  described  as  being  "at  one  and  the  same  time  to 
require  of  the  companies  separate  statements  for  each  of  their 
lines;  to  determine,  in  some  manner  binding  on  the  companies, 
the  amounts  respectively  of  their  net  earnings  and  of  their 
invested  capital  —  two  determining  features  in  the  event  of 
purchase;  and  to  compel  railroad  companies,  without  waiting 
for  the  expiration  of  the  period  fixed  in  the  franchises,  to  justify 
their  statements  of  annual  net  earnings  and  of  invested  capital." 
The  same  law  conferred  upon  the  federal  courts  the  ultimate 
right  of  determining  cases  of  disagreement  as  to  terms  of  pur- 
chase which,  according  to  former  franchises,  had  been  relegated 
to  special  courts  of  arbitration. 

The  law  of  1896  was  not,  as  its  enemies  represented  it,  a 
scheme  for  enabling  the  state  to  evade  the  pecuniary  obliga- 
tions previously  sanctioned  as  the  terms  of  the  purchase.  What 
it  secured  was  a  distinct  definition  of  what  were  to  be  considered 
the  "first  costs,"  following  the  decision  of  the  courts  and  the 
ruling  of  the  administration  since  1883.  Under  the  law  of  1896, 
only  the  expenses  properly  belonging  to  the  actual  railroad 
could  be  included  under  first  costs.  No  expenditure  which  did 
not  correspond  to  a  tangible  asset  was  included,  no  watered 
stock  or  costs  of  "fondation."  Proper  provision  must  be  made 
for  writing  off  the  value  of  obsolete  or  wornout  capital,  and  a 
sufficient  depreciation  fund  must  be  maintained  as  a  current 
expense.  In  a  word,  what  the  law  did  was  to  enforce  a  scien- 
tific system  of  bookkeeping  which  was  in  reality  as  much  to  the 
advantage  of  the  shareholders  as  of  the  state. 

The  discussions  upon  this  law  may  be  regarded  as  bringing 
the  policy  of  nationalisation  of  the  railroads,  for  the  first  time, 
on  to  the  open  stage  of  immediate  politics.  Not  only  was  it 
fiercely  fought  in  the  Assembly  by  the  interests  which  deemed 
themselves  assailed,  and  by  certain  legal  precisians  who  con- 


96  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

tended  that  the  state  ought  not  to  modify  to  its  own  advantage 
terms  of  agreement  which  it  had  formally  endorsed,  but  a  wide- 
spread canvass  of  voters  and  an  educational  propaganda  was  set 
on  foot  throughout  the  country.  About  1893  a  popular  organi- 
sation was  established  for  the  nationalisation  of  the  railroads 
in  which  Schar,  a  radical  schoolmaster  at  Bale,  was  a  moving 
spirit.  A  number  of  private  conferences  were  held  in  different 
cities,  in  which  the  relation  of  the  railway  to  the  state,  the  financial 
condition  of  the  roads  and  the  conditions  of  purchase,  were 
thoroughly  discussed  by  the  leaders  of  the  movement.  These 
men,  returning  to  their  different  localities,  organised  local  edu- 
cation by  means  of  the  newspapers,  public  meetings  and  private 
conversation. 

The  labour  was  immense,  for  detailed  examination  of  the 
separate  finances  of  each  railroad  was  essential  to  the  issue, 
which  was  one  of  the  terms  of  purchase  and  of  profitable  work- 
ing. 

The  Socialist  party  of  Switzerland,  working  independently 
of  the  official  leaders  in  the  Assembly,  had,  by  1896,  so  far 
ripened  the  issue  in  the  country  as  to  secure  the  requisite  sig- 
nature to  a  petition  for  a  referendum  on  the  question  of  nationali- 
sation by  immediate  expropriation. 

This  movement,  however,  was  stopped  by  the  appearance  of 
a  message  of  the  Federal  Council,  March,  1897,  advocating 
the  purchase  of  the  railways  on  the  basis  furnished  by  the  new 
law  of  railroad  accounts. 

This  important  document  contains  the  bill  which  forms  the 
legal  basis  of  the  acquisition  of  the  chief  railroads  by  the  state. 

After  a  careful  historical  introduction  it  sets  forth  the  politi- 
cal and  economic  case  for  the  nationalisation  of  the  five 
principal  railroad  systems,  the  Jura-Simplon,  Central,  North- 
eastern, Union-Swiss,  and  the  St.  Gothard.  The  cost  of  pur- 
chase was  estimated  at  a  sum  of  Fr.  964,384,769  ($192,876,954), 
a  sum  which  raised  on  loan  at  three  or  even  three  and  three- 


NATIONALISATION  OF  RAILROADS  97 

quarters  per  cent  would,  after  due  allowance  for  a  sinking  fund, 
leave  a  substantial  net  profit  to  the  state. 

These  five  railways  comprised  a  length  of  2578  k.  m.  of  lines, 
more  than  four  fifths  of  the  entire  railways  in  the  country.  On 
the  terms  of  the  concession  the  purchase  of  four  of  the  roads 
would  take  place  in  1903,  the  completion  of  the  St.  Gothard 
purchase  being  postponed  to  1909. 

The  funds  for  the  public  purchase  were  to  be  obtained  by  the 
sale  of  securities  or  annuities,  to  be  cancelled  at  the  end  of  sixty 
years  in  accordance  with  a  carefully  constructed  sinking  fund. 

An  elaborate  scheme  for  the  administration  of  the  railroads  was 
laid  down.  A  special  federal  office  was  created,  the  detached 
administration  being  entrusted  to  a  Council  of  fifty-five  appointed 
for  a  term  of  three  years,  twenty-five  by  the  federal  govern- 
ment, twenty-five  by  the  cantons,  and  five  by  the  local  boards 
of  directors,  who,  situated  at  Bale,  Lausanne,  Zurich,  Lucerne, 
and  Berne,  took  charge  of  the  local  management  of  the  roads. 

The  legislative  and  constructive  policy,  together  with  the 
general  financial  control  of  the  railroads,  was  delegated  to  the 
Federal  Assembly,  the  Federal  Council  being  responsible  for 
examining  the  annual  budget  and  for  submitting  to  the  Assembly 
reports  on  the  condition  of  the  railroads  and  proposals  for 
enlargements  and  improvements. 

In  the  final  draft  of  the  law  it  was  provided  that  all  schemes 
for  the  further  acquisition  of  existing  roads  or  for  construction 
of  new  roads  must  be  submitted  to  the  referendum. 

Careful  conditions  were  laid  down  for  the  financial  inde- 
pendence of  the  railroads.  The  net  earnings  were  to  be  allo- 
cated in  the  first  instance  to  the  payment  of  interest  and  the 
reduction  of  the  railroad  debt.  Any  surplus  was  to  be  set  to  the 
credit  of  the  railroad  account  and  to  be  utilised  for  a  reduction 
of  transportation  rates. 

In  considering  the  fate  of  this  measure  it  is  of  prime  impor- 
tance to  recognise  that  it  proposed  to  secure  for  the  state  what 


98 


A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 


was  prima  facie  a  very  advantageous  bargain.  The  estimates 
of  purchase  made  by  the  Federal  Council  in  its  message  were 
as  follows : 


Jura-Simplon 

North  Eastern 

Central 

Union  Swiss 

Gothard 

Wohlen  Bremgarden 

(Small  branch  of  Central) 

Total 


Francs 

Dollars  l 

288,154,203 

$57,638,840 

244,434,347 

48,886,869 

177,357,946 

35,471,589 

81,858,654 

16,371,73! 

172,371,182 

34,474,236 

208,446 

41,689 

Fr.  964,384,778 

$  192,876,965 

The  following  table,  based  on  quotations  of  the  Swiss  Money 
Market,  before  the  promulgation  of  the  Message  of  1897,  pre- 
sents a  comparison  which  shows  that  the  valuation  of  the  Federal 
Council  was  in  most  instances  far  below  the  then  market  price 
of  the  stock : 


Purchase 

Valuation 

Francs 


Par  Value 
Francs 


Market 
Value 
Francs 


Jura-Simplon 
Preferred  Stock 
Ordinary 

North  Eastern 
Ordinary 

Central 
Ordinary 

Union  Swiss 
Preferred  Stock 
Ordinary 

Gothard  


500 
120 

33& 
543 

500 

315 
620 


500 
200 

500 

500 

500 
500 

500 


555 
190 

665 

705 


475 
82 


Fractions  of  dollars  have  been  omitted. 


NATIONALISATION  OF  RAILROADS  99 

During  the  period  of  discussion  by  the  Assembly  and  in  the 
interval  before  the  matter  was  submitted  to  the  referendum,  a 
fierce  debate  was  waged  between  the  advocates  and  the  oppo- 
nents of  this  measure.  Those  interested  in  the  private  systems 
represented  the  proposal  as  a  sheer  act  of  robbery,  while  the 
Federal  Council  sustained  its  case  by  adducing  elaborate  reports 
of  experts. 

It  was  not,  however,  a  party  issue,  for,  though  originating  in 
radical  quarters,  the  proposal  secured  the  adhesion  not  only  of 
powerful  Conservative  Catholic  Members,  like  Zemp,  but  of  a 
large  number  of  Conservatives  throughout  the  country,  especially 
of  those  who  feared  and  disliked  the  control  of  the  railroads  by 
foreign  and  predominantly  Jewish  capitalists.  An  active 
pamphleteering  campaign  was  undertaken  on  both  sides,  and 
the  process  of  educating  the  electorate  by  public  meetings  was 
carried  further  than  ever  before.  The  opposition  was  the  more 
active  in  printed  propaganda,  the  railroad  people  using  their 
power  freely  for  the  circulation  of  pamphlets,  etc.  There  is, 
however,  no  evidence  that  the  railroads  adopted  any  form  of 
political  corruption  either  with  the  legislature  or  the  electorate, 
or  even  that  they  brought  intimidation  to  bear  upon  those  of 
their  employees  who  took  sides  with  the  nationalisation  party. 

The  discussion  was  in  the  main  of  a  severely  practical  form, 
turning  upon  the  terms  of  purchase,  the  possibilities  of  rate 
reductions  and  improvements  of  service  under  the  new  regime 
and  the  making  of  new  roads.  The  question  of  remuneration 
and  other  conditions  of  employment  of  railroad  workers  and 
officials  also  formed  an  appreciable  factor  in  the  discussions. 
But  the  whole  question  was  made  to  hinge  upon  finance,  the 
railroads  contending  that  if  a  fair  price  was  paid  to  them 
the  state  could  not  conduct  the  railroad  business  so  as  to  fulfil 
the  pledges  of  extension  of  lines,  improvement  of  services,  and 
lowering  of  rates,  which  were  their  chief  baits  to  the  electorate. 
The  business  leader  of  the  opposition,  the  railroad  magnate, 


ioo  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

Guyer-Zeller,  also  promised  the  people  that  if  they  would  leave 
the  roads  in  his  hands  he  would  build  the  subsidiary  roads  which 
the  Confederation  would  not  have  the  money  to  build. 

As  for  the  argument  about  control  of  foreign  capitalists,  he 
pointed  out  that  the  new  railroad  bonds  to  be  issued  by  the 
state  in  order  to  secure  the  purchase  money  would  also  pass 
into  foreign  hands,  and  it  was  more  dangerous  for  foreigners  to 
control  the  public  funds  than  the  stocks  of  private  companies. 
But  it  soon  became  evident  that  the  mind  of  the  people,  as  of  the 
Assembly,  was  made  up  in  favour  of  nationalisation.  "That 
apple  was  ripe."  In  the  National  Council  the  bill  was  adopted 
by  a  vote  of  98  to  29,  and  in  the  State  Council  by  the  smaller 
but  still  substantial  majority  of  25  to  17. 

The  supporters  comprised  the  entire  body  of  the  Radicals, 
and  the  Socialists,  a  section  of  the  Liberal  centre  and  a  few 
members  of  the  Catholic  and  Conservative  right;  the  opponents 
consisted  of  the  main  body  of  the  Catholics  and  Federalists  and 
the  larger  part  of  the  Liberal  centre. 

This  division  fairly  represented  the  state  of  public  opinion 
which  was  soon  to  be  expressed  in  the  referendum,  accepting 
the  Nationalisation  Law. 

As  M.  Zemp  was  able  to  carry  a  certain  number  of  Catholic 
Conservatives  with  him  in  support  of  the  measure,  so  the  strong 
opposition  of  one  important  Radical,  M.  Numa  Droz,  ex-presi- 
dent of  the  Confederation,  detached  some  radicals. 

But  the  Radical  party  as  an  organisation  was  pretty  unani- 
mous in  support  of  the  measure,  while  the  Socialist  caucus, 
though  objecting  to  the  extreme  centralisation  of  the  adminis- 
trative policy,  pledged  itself  in  favour  of  the  measure. 

The  opposition  of  the  Catholic  Swiss  Federalists  and  the 
Liberal  Conservatives  was  overborne  at  the  polls,  and  the  refer- 
endum gave  the  imposing  vote  of  386,634  "Ayes"  as  against 
182,718  "Noes." 

But  no  sooner  had  the  sovereign  people  committed  itself 


NATIONALISATION  OF  RAILROADS  101 

to  this  scheme  of  nationalisation  than  the  scheme  itself  began 
to  shift  shape.  The  railroad  companies  began  a  series  of  suits 
in  the  Federal  Courts  in  order  to  obtain  judicial  decisions  upon 
their  rights  under  their  franchises.  The  Central  Railroad  and 
the  Northeastern  were  most  active  in  this  litigation,  and  the 
judgments  of  the  court  went  sometimes  for  them,  sometimes 
against,  on  the  main  issue  of  the  mode  of  estimating  the  cost  of 
purchase.  It  soon  became  manifest  that  an  almost  endless 
series  of  processes  could  be  entered,  the  issue  of  which  was 
quite  incalculable;  the  shareholders  had  no  security  as  to  the 
value  of  their  shares,  while  the  government  could  make  no 
effective  plan  for  dealing  with  a  financial  situation  which  it  was 
impossible  to  forecast. 

The  government,  moreover,  found  themselves  further  em- 
barrassed by  the  question  of  the  debentures  of  the  railroads, 
having  no  assurance  as  to  whether  they  could  simply  assume 
the  obligations  from  the  companies  or  whether  they  must  find 
the  cash  to  pay  off  the  debenture-holders. 

These  considerations,  together  with  the  disturbance  to  busi- 
ness, caused  by  the  protracted  method  of  acquisition,  induced 
the  government  to  seek  to  substitute  purchase  by  agreement 
for  compulsory  purchase  under  the  terms  of  the  concessions. 

Their  first  negotiations  were  with  the  Central  Railroad,  and 
in  December,  1900,  they  came  finally  to  an  agreement  of  pur- 
chase on  the  basis  that  the  government  should  pay  for  each 
share  and  debenture  a  four  per  cent  certificate,  carrying  an  interest 
of  thirty  francs,  government  reserving  the  right  at  any  time  to 
pay  off  the  holder  on  six  months'  notice.  The  government 
was  also  to  take  over  all  outstanding  obligations  of  the  company 
and  to  continue  in  their  employ  all  former  officials  of  the  com- 
pany with  the  exception  of  the  directors.  On  these  terms  the 
Central  became  a  national  railway. 

A  little  gentle  compulsion  was  applied  to  the  Northeastern 
in  order  to  induce  it  to  consent  to  a  similar  "voluntary  nego- 


102  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

tiation."  The  Railroad  law,  having  in  mind  the  case  of  the 
Northeastern  with  a  number  of  subsidiary  lines  which  were 
less  profitable  than  the  main  lines,  contained  a  provision  ena- 
bling the  government  to  confine  its  purchase  by  concessions  to 
the  main  lines,  leaving  the  others  under  the  company,  unless 
the  latter  could  be  bought  upon  reasonable  terms.  In  the  cases 
brought  before  the  Federal  Court  it  was  evident  that  no  agree- 
ment could  be  reached  as  to  the  separate  valuation  of  these 
subsidiary  lines  and,  if  the  government  refused  to  buy  them, 
the  Northeastern  system  would  be  broken  into  two,  the  one 
part  passing  to  the  government,  the  other,  a  number  of  now 
disjointed  fragments,  remaining  with  the  company.  Such  an 
eventuality  suited  neither  the  interests  of  the  shareholders  nor 
the  convenience  of  the  public,  and  at  the  end  of  1900  terms  of 
purchase  were  arranged  on  a  valuation  basis  of  253,000,000 
francs  ($50,600,000),  the  Northeastern  500-franc  shares  being 
paid  by  federal  certificates  at  par  bearing  three  and  one-half 
per  cent  interest. 

As  far  back  as  1896  an  agreement  had  been  made  between 
the  federal  government  and  the  Union  Swiss  Railroad,  by  which 
all  the  lines  controlled  by  the  latter  should  be  treated  as  a  single 
property  in  case  of  purchase.  This  purchase  was  now  nego- 
tiated upon  a  basis  of  capitalising  the  net  profit,  and  after  vari- 
ous deductions  the  price  was  brought  down  to  a  sum  of 
40,000,000  francs  ($8,000,000),  of  which  18  millions  were  paid 
in  cash  and  22  millions  in  three-per-cent  certificates  at  ninety- 
nine.  This  purchase  was  consummated  early  in  1902,  though 
the  state  administration  did  not  take  place  until  the  begin- 
ning of  1903.  There  remained  the  Jura-Simplon  and  the  St. 
Gothard.  The  former  was  purchased  in  May,  1903,  for  the 
sum  of  104,000,000  francs  ($20,800,000),  a  considerable  ad- 
vance upon  the  sum  81,500,000  francs  ($16,300,000),  at  which 
it  had  been  valued  in  1896.  The  St.  Gothard  still  remains  to 
be  acquired. 


NATIONALISATION  OF  RAILROADS  103 

On  no  point  connected  with  the  Swiss  nationalisation  scheme 
has  graver  misapprehension  existed  than  with  reference  to  the 
enhancement  of  the  terms  of  purchase.  Hostile  critics  often 
represent  the  people  as  having  been  deliberately  duped  by  being 
told  that  they  could  get  the  railways  for  a  certain  sum,  where  as 
afterwards  thirty  to  thirty-five  per  cent  was  added  to  this  price. 

In  the  debates  upon  the  nationalisation  of  French  railways 
at  the  beginning  of  1904,  we  find  M.  Rouvier  making  great 
capital  out  of  the  charge  that  whereas  it  had  been  estimated 
that  the  prices  of  the  Swiss  railways  would  be  220  millions 
($44,000,000),  they  had  been  obliged  to  pay  301  millions 
($60,200,000),  an  additional  charge  of  81  millions  or  thirty-five 
per  cent. 

In  fact  the  charge  is  baseless.  In  the  first  place,  the  total 
expense  estimated  as  the  cost  of  the  railroads  amounted  to  790 
millions  ($158,000,000),  and  the  actual  excess,  the  81  millions 
($20,200,000),  amounts  only  to  about  ten  per  cent,  a  very 
ordinary  increase  of  price  upon  the  estimate  in  any  large  and 
delicate  negotiation. 

The  explanation  of  the  actual  increase  of  price  is  simple 
enough.  The  article  bought  had  risen  in  value  between  the 
time  when  the  estimate  was  made  and  the  time  when  the  sale 
actually  took  place.  The  valuations  made  in  1897  were  natu- 
rally based  upon  the  operation  of  the  roads  during  the  last  ten 
years,  the  statistics  of  which  were  available,  viz.,  1 886-1 895. 
But  it  happened  that  1896  was  a  year  of  great  commercial 
activity  which  exhibited  itself  in  a  more  profitable  working  of 
the  roads  and  a  corresponding  rise  in  capital  values. 

This  was  the  chief  reason  why  more  was  paid  than  had  been 
estimated.  There  was,  however,  the  further  reason  that  the 
state  wished  to  enter  in  possession  of  the  roads  at  an  earlier 
date  than  that  on  which  the  concessions  of  four  of  the  roads 
fell  in,  viz.,  1903.  Some  of  the  additional  price  must  be 
accredited  as  compensation  for  the  earlier  ejectment. 


io4  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

The  Federal  Council,  in  fine,  reckoned  that  since  1895 
the  companies  had  become  more  valuable  properties  and 
therefore  agreed  to  pay  an  enhanced  price.  There  was  nothing 
mysterious  about  this  and  nothing  detrimental  to  the  public 
interest. 

While  some  of  the  enemies  of  nationalisation  fastened  their 
attention  on  the  charge  that  the  state  had  paid  an  excessive 
price  for  the  railroads,  others  pointed  to  the  fall-off  in  receipts, 
which  immediately  followed  the  acquisition  of  the  Grand  Cen- 
tral and  Northeastern,  as  proof  of  the  incompetency  of  state 
management. 

The  working  of  the  first  year,  1901,  during  which  the  state 
had  possession  of  the  two  roads,  showed  a  considerable  drop 
in  the  net  receipts  of  each.  This  fact  was  bruited  far  and  wide 
as  an  argument  for  private  railroads,  and  was  utilised  with 
great  effrontery  in  France  when  the  nationalisation  issue  was 
in  the  front  of  practical  politics.  Unfortunately  for  the  anti- 
nationalisers  there  is  no  substance  in  the  argument.  For  in 
the  first  place,  though  the  nation  owned  these  roads  in  1901, 
their  administration  remained  with  the  companies  until  1902. 
Secondly,  the  year  1901  was  one  of  deep  depression,  as  attested 
by  the  condition  of  the  other  Swiss  railroads,  the  St.  Gothard 
and  the  Jura  Simplon,  whose  diminution  of  receipts  was  quite 
as  large,  though  they  still  remained  under  private  ownership. 

Our  sketch  of  the  history  of  railroad  nationalisation  in 
Switzerland  brings  out  quite  clearly  certain  characteristics  of 
Swiss  democracy.  In  the  first  place  it  is  evident  that  their 
working  politics  are  eminently  practical.  Theory  and  senti- 
ment plays  some  part  in  Switzerland  as  in  other  countries. 
There  were  those  who  held  from  early  days  the  general  prin- 
ciple which  the  National  Commission  of  1852  printed  in  italics 
in  their  report,  "The  railroads  of  Switzerland  ought  to  be 
federal  work."  Both  in  the  Assembly  and  among  the  edu- 
cated people  of  the  country  there  were  some  who  favoured  or 


NATIONALISATION  OF  RAILROADS  105 

disfavoured  state  railways  because  they  held  some  general  views 
on  the  limits  of  public  and  private  enterprise. 

A  much  larger  number  were  moved  by  sentiments  regarding 
federal  unity  and  cantonal  rights.  Party  traditions  and  race 
feelings  also  played  some  part  in  the  episode.  But  in  reflect- 
ing upon  the  vote  of  the  people  given  against  purchase  in  1891, 
and  by  a  still  stronger  majority  for  purchase  in  1897,  we 
recognise  that  the  dominating  motives  were  business  ones. 
Like  other  folk  the  Swiss  as  a  body  dislike  bureaucracy  and 
have  no  general  desire  to  increase  state  functions  and  to 
multiply  officials;  accustomed  to  do  many  different  sorts  of 
things  by  public  co-operation,  they  exhibit,  other  things  equal, 
a  decided  preference  for  cantonal  action  which  is  more  sus- 
ceptible of  direct  popular  control.  But  several  decades  of 
experience  of  private  enterprise  in  railroads,  working  not  in 
unison  but  either  in  indifference  to  one  another  or  in  conflict, 
and  actuated  not  by  direct  regard  for  the  convenience  of  the 
traveller  and  the  shipper,  but  by  considerations  of  private 
profits  for  foreign  shareholders,  formed  a  slow  but  certain 
education  in  nationalisation.  The  nature  of  their  country 
precluded  effective  competition,  throwing  most  districts  to  the 
mercy  of  a  single  autocratic  company;  much  of  the  proper 
work  of  railroad  enterprise  lay  in  the  development  of  country 
through  which  lines  could  not  be  made  with  any  prospect  of 
early  profits,  lines  which  therefore  no  private  company  could 
be  expected  to  make  unless  possessed  of  large  capital  and 
willingness  to  wait  results.  The  regulation  and  systematisa- 
tion  of  rates  through  loose  federal  legislation  was  proved  to  be 
impracticable.  Friction  with  railroad  employees,  due  to  bad 
conditions  of  labour,  and  culminating  in  a  great  strike  attended 
by  grave  public  inconvenience,  which  occurred  in  the  very  height 
of  the  controversy,  brought  home  another  evil  of  the  private 
highroad  system  and  rallied  a  strong  "labour"  support  for 
the  nationalisation  movement. 


io6  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

It  is  often  said,  and  truly,  that  the  people  rejected  the  be- 
ginnings of  nationalisation  in  1891  because  they  were  asked  to 
pay  too  dear,  and  accepted  six  years  later  because  they  thought 
they  were  getting  a  good  bargain.  This,  however,  does  not 
signify,  as  is  sometimes  argued,  that  the  people  approved  a 
policy  of  forced  appropriation  on  terms  of  practical  confiscation. 
Their  position  was  one  of  wise  opportunism.  The  pure  theory 
of  state  ownership  meant  little  or  nothing  to  them.  The  prac- 
tical issue  was  this:  "Can  we  secure  our  railroads  on  terms 
which  are  not  extravagant  and  which  will  enable  us  to  give 
cheap  and  efficient  service  and  good  terms  of  employment,  and 
to  promote  further  development  of  transport  with  a  view  not  to 
the  immediate  net  profits  of  each  new  enterprise  but  to  the  gen- 
eral welfare  of  the  country?" 

The  opponents  of  nationalisation  lost  no  time  in  asserting 
that  the  policy  had  proved  to  be  a  blunder.  One  of  their 
representatives,  M.  Repond,  thus  summarises  his  reading  of 
the  situation  in  1901: 

"All  the  apprehensions  of  opponents  of  the  purchase  of  the 
railroads  have  been  justified  by  the  event.  The  railroads  have 
cost  more  than  the  message  said  they  would,  there  has  not  been 
the  progressive  increase  in  receipts  on  which  the  purchase  was 
estimated;  there  is  now  a  backward  movement  and  the  pros- 
pect of  deficit.  The  men  are  demanding  and  getting  terms 
which  the  government  cannot  refuse,  and  exist  as  a  de- 
mocracy asking  popular  favours  which  the  companies  would 
have  been  able  to  refuse  because  they  would  have  been  justified 
in  putting  their  self-interest  against  the  self-interest  of  the  men." 

But  this  criticism  is  not  supported  by  a  fair  consideration  of 
the  actual  history  of  the  railroads  since  they  passed  under 
federal  management.  The  last  four  years  have  shown  a  very 
substantial  advance  in  the  amount  of  business  done  in  the 
transport  both  of  persons  and  of  freight  and  in  the  money  receipts 
for  the  same.     The  statistics  here  subjoined  1  indicate  a  very 


NATIONALISATION  OF  RAILROADS 


107 


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108  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

great  increase  of  business  during  the  years  1 903-1 905,  in  which 
the  state  has  enjoyed  full  control  over  the  four  chief  roads. 
The  full  economy  of  the  nationalisation  will  not,  of  course,  be 
capable  of  realisation  until  after  the  St.  Gothard  has  been  taken 
over  and  the  entire  group  of  main  roads  can  be  worked  as  a 
single  system. 

"But,"  say  the  hostile  critics  of  nationalisation,  "if  the  receipts 
are  rising,  the  expenditure  is  rising  even  faster;  the  experiment 
is  a  failure  because  it  does  not  exhibit  any  appreciable  surplus, 
any  net  profit  for  the  government. "  This  criticism  appears  to 
be  endorsed  by  the  statistics  of  expenditure;  the  net  surplus 
is  a  trifling  sum  and  is  less  than  it  was  during  the  earlier  years 
of  the  experiment. 

But  to  apply  to  a  public  enterprise  the  same  narrow  business 
tests  as  are  applicable  to  a  private  company  involves  a  com- 
plete misunderstanding  of  the  issue.  A  private  business  is 
intended  to  make  net  profit  for  the  shareholders,  and  its  success 
is  naturally  tested  by  its  success  in  doing  this.  A  public  busi- 
ness, however,  is  not  intended  primarily  to  earn  profits  but  to 
serve  the  public  in  every  way  it  can.  Now  there  is  no  particular 
presumption  that  a  public  railroad  is  serving  the  public  by 
charging  such  high  rates  for  the  service  it  renders,  or  by  paying 
such  low  wages  to  its  employees,  as  will  enable  it  to  show  a  large 
surplus  in  its  balance  sheet. 

The  first  duty  of  a  public  railroad  is  obviously  to  give  to  the 
travelling  or  carrying  public  as  cheap,  safe,  and  effective  a  ser- 
vice as  it  can.  Its  second  duty  is  to  serve  as  a  model  employer, 
securing  to  its  employees  such  wages,  hours,  and  other  conditions 
of  employment  as  contribute  to  a  healthy  and  progressive  stand- 
ard of  living.  A  private  business  may  make  net  profits  by 
charging  high  rates  and  by  sweating  its  employees;  an  enlight- 
ened government  will  recognise  the  folly  of  inflicting  these  in- 
juries upon  the  public.  Moreover,  there  are  other  differences 
in  the  public  and  the  private  business  point  of  view  which  affect 


NATIONALISATION  OF  RAILROADS  109 

materially  the  balance-sheet.  A  state  railroad  may  and  does 
develop  and  maintain  roads  which  do  not,  and  perhaps  cannot, 
pay  their  way,  because  they  are  a  public  convenience,  subsidising 
this  portion  of  the  system  out  of  the  paying  portion,  or  even 
meeting  the  deficit  by  public  taxation. 

All  these  influences  have  been  operative  to  some  extent  in  the 
national  management  of  the  Swiss  railroads.  There  have 
been  considerable  reductions  effected  in  fares  and  in  freight 
rates,  and  improved  facilities  have  been  afforded  by  an  increase 
in  the  number  of  trains,  and  increased  speed  and  other  con- 
veniences of  transport. 

"Thanks  to  these  reductions,"  writes  Professor  E.  Milhaud.1 
"the  passenger  traffic  in  1904  showed  a  considerable  develop- 
ment. The  number  of  passengers  increased  about  six  millions, 
that  is  to  say  twelve  per  cent,  an  increase  so  considerable  that  in 
spite  of  the  very  sensible  reduction  in  price  of  tickets  the  receipts 
were  largely  increased,  growing  from  43,909,319  francs  in  1903 
to  45,427,823  francs  in  1904.  The  administration  did  not 
hope  that  this  progress  would  continue  in  1905,  and  in  its 
budget  estimated  an  increase  of  only  1,150,000  francs,  that 
is  to  say,  of  two  and  a  half  per  cent.  However,  the  com- 
munication just  made  to  the  press  informs  us  that  the  receipts 
are  48,100,000  francs  an  increase  of  2,700,000  francs  that  is, 
five  and  nine  tenths  per  cent  upon  1904.  There  have  been 
4,586,000  passengers  more  than  in  1901.  In  two  years  the 
number  of  passengers  has  increased  from  48  millions  to  59 
millions." 

At  first  some  dissatisfaction  was  felt  among  railway  employees 
at  the  slowness  of  the  government  to  fulfil  their  promises  of 
improved  wages  and  conditions  of  employment.  The  unfore- 
seen expenditure,  connected  with  the  taking  over  of  the  roads 
at  a  time  when  depressed  trade  was  keeping  down  the  railroad 
receipts,  not  only  in  Switzerland,  but  in  most  European  coun- 

1  Le  Courrier  Europeen,  November  2,  1906. 


no  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

tries,  obliged  the  government  to  go  slow.  But  the  new  scale 
of  wages,  supplementary  payments,  and  pensions,  introduced 
in  1903,  has  gone  a  good  way  to  improve  the  pecuniary  con- 
ditions of  employment,  while  the  new  labour  law,  reducing  the 
hours  of  labour  from  twelve  to  eleven,  securing  fifty-two  days' 
rest  in  the  year,  eight  days  continuous  holiday,  and  a  further 
increase  after  some  years'  service,  certainly  places  the  railway 
employees  in  a  "most  favoured  trades'  position, as  regards  hours 
and  holidays." 

Finally,  the  invalidity  of  the  demand  that  the  working  of  the 
national  railroads  shall  show  a  profit  is  evidenced  by  the  very 
conditions  laid  down  in  the  Nationalisation  Law,  which  defi- 
nitely precluded  the  placing  of  any  profit  from  the  railroads  in 
the  national  treasury  and  required  that  any  surplus  must  be 
devoted  to  the  improvement  of  the  services. 

The  fears  lest  the  undertaking  of  what  seemed  to  many  con- 
servatives a  hazardous  speculation  for  a  government  should 
embarrass  the  general  finances  of  the  nation  were  allayed  by 
the  provision  requiring  that  the  railway  budget  should  be  kept 
quite  separate  from  the  ordinary  federal  budget. 

The  state  railroads  were  to  become  a  financially  self-support- 
ing system,  not  a  source  of  profit  for  the  public  exchequer. 

Each  year  bears  stronger  testimony  to  the  success  of  the  ex- 
periment. Not  only  do  the  state  railroads  pay  their  way  with 
a  cheaper  and  more  efficient  freight  and  passenger  service,  and 
higher  wages  with  shorter  hours  for  the  workers,  but  adequate 
provision  is  made  for  a  sinking  fund,  furnished  from  the  current 
profits,  which  will,  in  the  course  of  fifty-six  years,  wipe  out  the 
thousand  million  fund  raised  to  buy  out  the  companies,  and  will 
leave  the  nation  in  full  free  possession  of  its  system  of  highroads. 

Though  it  is  too  early  to  pronounce  a  final  judgment  on  the 
Swiss  experiment,  seeing  that  the  public  management  of  the 
largest  of  the  four  roads,  the  Simplon,  only  began  in  May,  1903, 
while  the  most  important  link  still  remains  to  be  acquired  in 


NATIONALISATION  OF  RAILROADS  in 

1909,  when  the  St.  Gothard  passes  to  the  state,  the  prospect 
appears  distinctly  favourable. 

While  it  will  obviously  take  some  years  before  the  full  econo- 
mic conveniences  of  the  unification  of  the  system  are  reaped, 
there  is  a  general  agreement,  even  among  those  who  object  to 
what  they  consider  the  ''pauperising"  of  the  employees,  that  the 
management  is  both  honest  and  intelligent.  Nowhere  is  any  de- 
sire manifested  to  go  back  to  the  old  system  of  competing  roads. 

While  the  nationalisation  of  the  Swiss  railroads,  regarded  as 
a  crucial  instance  of  democratic  constructive  policy,  exhibits 
the  people  as  moving  slowly  along  a  carefully  explored  path  of 
business  enterprise  and  actuated  principally  by  concrete  con- 
siderations of  material  gains,  it  would  not  be  right  to  interpret 
their  conduct  as  governed  entirely  by  such  ad  hoc  opportunism. 
Regarded  as  a  step  in  the  evolution  of  Swiss  democracy,  it  re- 
quires a  wider  interpretation.  Every  thoughtful  Swiss  would 
agree  that  railroad  nationalisation  was  an  inevitable,  a  natural 
fruit  of  the  spirit  of  a  democracy  which  insisted  upon  the  popular 
management  of  those  affairs  which  are  of  prime  importance  to 
the  safety  and  well-being  of  the  Commonwealth.  It  was  not 
really  the  calculation  of  lower  rates,  better  management,  and 
improved  facilities  of  transport  that  explains  why  the  Swiss  have 
undertaken  the  management  of  their  highroads,  though  this 
calculation  may  figure  as  the  direct  efficient  cause.  The  public 
ownership  and  working  of  the  effective  highroads  of  a  nation 
are  in  point  of  fact  an  essential  of  the  economic  and  the  political 
liberty  of  every  modern  nation.  In  the  long  run,  no  people  can 
afford  to  leave  in  the  control  of  private  profit-seeking  com- 
panies that  mobility  which  plays  an  ever  larger  part  in  the 
freedom  of  civilised  men.  To  allow  a  private  association  of 
business  men  to  determine  whether,  when,  how,  and  upon 
what  pecuniary  and  other  conditions,  persons,  goods,  and  news 
shall  be  conveyed  from  one  place  to  another,  is  seen  to  involve 
a  real  infringement  upon  the  liberties  of  the  individual. 


ii2  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

Now,  in  a  country  where  the  citizens  remain  "subjects,"  it 
is  possible  that  this  denial  of  effective  personal  liberty  may  con- 
tinue long.  But  where  the  people  is  sovereign,  they  are  bound 
to  assert  their  sovereignty  in  the  overthrow  of  such  a  tyranny. 
The  railroad  industry  is  one  in  which  the  maintenance  of  full, 
free,  continuous,  and  effective  competition  is  impossible,  and, 
in  so  far  as  it  is  practised,  it  involves  grave  waste,  injury,  and 
insecurity  to  the  travelling  and  shipping  public. 

Hence,  whether  on  the  ground  of  tyrannous  monopoly  or  of 
injurious  competition,  the  resumption  by  the  public  of  the  public 
highways  is  an  inevitable  incident  in  the  development  of  demo- 
cratic policy. 

Though  certain  Swiss  statesmen  fully  realised  the  wider 
bearing  of  the  movement,  it  wrought  in  the  main  subconsciously. 
But  in  our  interpretation  of  Swiss  democracy,  we  must  take  due 
account  of  subconscious  as  well  as  of  conscious  motives.  It  is 
therefore  right  to  recognise,  behind  and  co-operating  with  the 
business  opportunism  which  figures  so  prominently  in  the  policy 
of  nationalisation,  the  drive  of  deeper  democratic  forces.  The 
achievement,  indeed,  has  already  altered  the  mental  attitude 
of  the  ordinary  citizen  in  regarding  the  process.  Few  even 
among  those  who  committed  themselves  ten  years  ago  with 
reluctance  and  distrust  to  this  new  large  programme  of  state 
work  would  now  go  back  on  it,  even  though  the  business  pros- 
pect was  more  dubious  than  appears  to  be  the  case.  "No!" 
they  would  say,  "this  is  state  business,  and  if  the  government 
has  not  yet  discovered  how  to  do  its  business  properly  it  must 
learn,  and  we  must  put  up  with  its  mistakes  while  it  is  doing 
so." 

Such  is  the  just  attitude  of  a  people,  not  plunging  into  large 
public  experiments,  as  the  result  of  sudden  revolutionary  agita- 
tion, but  inured  to  the  practice  of  self-government  and  assuming 
willingly,  but  not  eagerly,  new  public  functions  imposed  upon 
them  by  the  changing  conditions  of  modern  life. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE  NATIONALISATION  OF  THE  ALCOHOL  TRADE 

A  test  issue  of  democracy  is  the  public  treatment  of  the  drink 
traffic.  During  the  last  generation  Switzerland  has  grappled 
with  this  issue  more  resolutely  than  any  other  state.  She  has 
learned  the  lesson  which  other  nations  are  now  beginning  seri- 
ously to  ponder,  that  unless  the  state  controls  the  liquor  trade, 
the  liquor  trade  will  control  the  state.  For  the  economics  of 
the  drink  trade  place  it  in  a  unique  position.  Engaged  in 
supplying  one  of  the  most  exigent  and  wide-spread  tastes  of 
the  masses  of  the  people,  it  has  come  under  the  conditions  of 
la  grande  Industrie,  with  peculiar  advantages  for  the  establish- 
ment of  a  monopoly  and  the  earning  of  abnormally  high  profits. 
For  while  the  more  economical  production  and  distribution  of 
alcoholic  liquors,  especially  of  beer  and  spirits,  involves  a  great 
outlay  of  capital  and  a  large  organisation  of  business,  the 
restrictions  put  almost  everywhere  upon  the  retail  sale  of 
liquors  enables  prices  to  consumers  to  be  maintained  at  a 
higher  level  than  free  competition  would  assign.  Hence  the 
tendency  in  most  countries  for  the  brewing  and  distilling  trades 
to  pass  into  the  hands  of  a  few  great  companies  restricting 
competition  and  imposing  prices  on  the  retail  trade,  and  through 
the  retail  trade  upon  consumers,  which  yield  enormous  profits 
on  their  business  capital.  Everywhere  these  profits  serve,  not 
merely  to  sustain  a  group  of  plutocrats,  but  to  influence  and, 
where  necessary,  to  corrupt  legislation  and  the  administration 
of  laws  concerned  with  the  regulation  of  the  trade  and  the 
maintenance  of  public  order.     Drunkenness  and  the  various 

"3 


ii4  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

vices  fed  by  the  abuse  of  alcohol  are  everywhere  treated  more 
or  less  as  protegees  of  the  liquor  trade,  whose  economic  and 
political  influence  is  always  cast  against  the  rigorous  enforce- 
ment of  laws  directed  against  them. 

Switzerland  was  no  exception  to  this  rule:  the  drink  habit 
held  great  and  growing  sway  among  various  classes  of  the  pop- 
ulation, and  in  particular  the  increased  sale  of  spirits  had 
become  a  grave  menace  to  public  health  and  order.  A  powerful 
interest  had  grown  up,  consisting  of  distilleries  which  were 
getting  an  ever  stronger  hold  upon  the  purses  of  the  workmen 
in  the  industrial  towns.  The  special  drink  problem,  however, 
in  Switzerland  has  not  been  so  much  any  growth  in  drunken- 
ness as  in  the  wider  spread  of  the  use  of  alcohol,  especially  of 
cheap  spirits,  among  all  classes  of  the  working  population. 
Formerly,  when  agriculture  was  the  main  occupation  of  the 
country  and  there  was  little  trade,  milk  and  cafe*  au  lait  were 
the  almost  universal  drinks.  But  when  in  recent  years  larger 
and  larger  numbers  had  gone  into  town  industries,  while  cattle 
was  kept  more  and  more  for  the  export  trade  in  cheese  and 
other  dairy  produce,  milk  became  relatively  scarce,  and  the 
entire  standard  of  food  changed,  leading  to  a  great  increase 
in  the  consumption  of  spirits. 

This  habit  spread  the  more  quickly  because,  though  every 
canton  has  full  control  over  retail  licenses,  two  thirds  of  them 
exhibited  no  disposition  to  restrict  the  number  of  taverns,  and 
the  right  to  sell  liquor  was  usually  granted  to  any  one  who 
submitted  to  certain  formalities  and  paid  a  low  customary 
fee.  Though  such  licenses  were  nominally  granted  for  a  year, 
the  habit  of  renewal  became  absolute,  except  when  definite 
charges  of  contravention  of  the  law  were  proved  against  the 
saloon-keeper. 

A  preliminary  note  underlying  the  Swiss  treatment  of  the 
drink  question  is  the  clear  distinction  made  between  spirits 
and  the  milder  forms  of  alcoholic  liquors.     They  have  begun 


NATIONALISATION  OF  ALCOHOL  TRADE   115 

with  the  hypothesis  that  the  use  of  alcoholic  drink  in  some  form 
cannot  or  ought  not  be  stamped  out  by  law,  and  that  the  policy 
of  government  should  be  directed  to  discriminating  against 
the  more  noxious  kinds. 

In  order  to  control  in  the  public  interest  the  trade  in  spirits 
the  Swiss  people  have  decided  that  the  state  must  own  it. 

The  idea  of  the  public  monopoly  of  spirituous  liquors  had 
been  simmering  for  some  time  in  the  minds  of  radical  reformers 
and  philanthropists.  A  definite  proposal  to  this  end  was  set 
before  the  International  Congress  of  Hygiene  and  Demo- 
graphy held  at  Geneva  in  1882,  while  the  reform  held  a  place 
in  the  Workman's  Programme  which  Federal  Councillor  Schenk 
in  the  same  year  placed  before  the  Congress  of  Swiss  Com- 
munal Unions. 

Official  opinion,  however,  at  that  time  was  by  no  means  ripe 
for  a  definite  acceptance  of  this  method  of  attacking  the  ques- 
tion. The  draft  proposal  of  the  Federal  Council,  opening  the 
issue  in  1884,  was  unwilling  to  commit  the  Council  to  favour- 
ing such  a  scheme.  It  put  forward  three  alternatives,  "  either 
free  competition  among  all  the  spirit  manufacturers  with  tax- 
ation in  proportion  to  their  respective  outputs,  or  the  granting 
of  concessions  to  a  limited  number  of  manufacturers,  or  finally 
a  federal  monopoly,  excluding  all  competition,  thus  securing 
the  possibility  of  placing  a  limitation  upon  domestic  consump- 
tion."  "We  regard  this  question,  at  present,  as  an  open  one." 

The  situation  was  not  an  easy  one  for  the  federal  govern- 
ment. It  had  not  a  free  hand.  The  Constitution  of  1848 
assigned  to  the  cantons  the  right  to  levy  import  duties  at  their 
borders  as  well  as  the  general  regulation  of  their  liquor  traffic, 
and  although  the  revision  of  1874  had  put  an  end  to  these 
cantonal  duties  after  the  year  1890,  any  immediate  measure 
of  reform  must  take  them  into  account. 

The  Federal  Message  of  1884  was  not  an  extreme  temperance 
pronouncement.    Its  main  object  was  to  devise  means  of  check- 


n6  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

ing  the  growth  of  the  consumption  of  spirits,  which,  being 
cheaper  than  wine,  beer,  or  cider,  had  made  great  encroach- 
ments in  the  standard  of  consumption  both  of  the  peasants  and 
the  town  labourers.  These  spirits  were  partly  imported  from 
abroad,  partly  they  were  of  home  manufacture  from  materials 
(potatoes,  grain,  etc.)  largely  imported.  No  effective  handling 
of  the  situation  by  co-operation  of  the  cantons  was  feasible: 
if  the  issue  was  to  be  dealt  with  effectively,  both  import  duties 
and  excise  must  be  vested  in  the  federal  government  together 
with  the  equally  important  control  over  the  sale  of  this  liquor 
within  the  federal  limits. 

The  substance  of  the  proposal  was  a  raising  of  the  import 
duty  upon  brandy,  attended  by  a  corresponding  rise  of  excise 
upon  Swiss  spirits,  and  accompanied  by  a  lowering  of  duties 
upon  the  relatively  innocuous  wines,  beers,  and  cider,  imported 
or  domestic.  The  message  concluded  with  the  proposal  of  a 
new  article  to  be  embodied  in  the  Constitution,  giving  the  Con- 
federation the  right  to  legislate  upon  the  distilling  industry  and 
upon  the  sale  of  its  product,  both  foreign  and  domestic,  and 
abolishing  the  rights  at  present  exercised  over  these  matters 
by  the  cantons. 

The  taxes  to  be  levied  by  the  Confederation  upon  imported 
and  domestic  spirits  were,  however,  not  to  be  retained  by  the 
federal  revenue,  but  to  be  divided  among  the  cantons  in  pro- 
portion to  their  population. 

Thus  a  proposal  to  increase  the  federal  power  was  baited 
with  a  provision  securing  positive  financial  gains  to  the  cantons, 
which  were  to  receive  their  share  of  the  intended  rise  of  taxes 
upon  alcohol,  while  effecting  considerable  saving  in  the  ex- 
penses of  adminstering  the  cantonal  octroi. 

This  federal  amendment  of  the  Constitution  was  accepted 
by  the  people  in  1885.  Then  ensued  a  great  struggle  of  views 
and  interests,  industrial,  financial,  and  moral.  The  definite 
proposal  of  a  federal  monopoly  was  formulated  by  M.  Milliet, 


NATIONALISATION  OF  ALCOHOL  TRADE   117 

at  that  time  employed  in  the  bureau  of  statistics,  and  a  com- 
mission of  the  Federal  Council,  appointed  to  report  upon  the 
whole  matter,  pronounced  in  favour  of  his  scheme.  The 
Council  approved  a  law  based  upon  this  report.  Then  50,000 
voters  demanded  a  referendum  on  the  law,  which  was,  however, 
approved  by  a  very  large  majority,  267,122  voting  for  it,  138,496 
against,  on  a  poll  of  62^%.  Milliet  as  author  of  the  law  was 
made  head  of  the  alcohol  bureau. 

Regarded  both  from  the  distinctively  political  standpoint 
and  as  a  social  experiment  this  federal  monopoly  is  extremely 
interesting. 

Its  main  provisions  are  these:  The  law  assigns  to  the  fed- 
eral government  the  sole  right  to  manufacture  distilled  liquor 
and  to  distribute  it  in  bulk.  The  government  need  not,  how- 
ever, undertake  the  manufacture  itself,  but  may  contract  for 
the  supply  from  foreign  or  domestic  distilleries,  with  the  proviso 
that  not  less  than  one  fourth  of  the  supply  is  of  domestic  pro- 
duction. "Distillation  from  certain  native  fruits  and  roots  is 
exempted  from  the  operation  of  the  law  and  is  free  to  any 
one." 

In  the  actual  administration  of  this  law  the  government 
licenses  a  number  of  distilleries  for  domestic  production,  im- 
porting the  rest  of  the  spirit  directly  from  abroad.  These 
home  tenders  are  distributed  among  about  seventy  distilleries, 
the  amounts  allotted  to  each  varying  from  about  150  to  1000 
hectolitres.  In  the  apportionment  of  tenders,  distilleries 
worked  on  a  co-operative  basis  are  supposed  to  have  a  prefer- 
ence.    No  other  distilleries  are  permitted  to  exist. 

One  of  the  necessary  implications  of  the  state  monopoly  was 
the  closing  of  a  large  number  of  small  distilleries.  It  was  made 
a  condition  of  continuation  in  the  trade  that  a  distillery  should 
have  a  producing  capacity  of  not  less  than  150  hectolitres  a 
year :  those  below  this  limit  were  closed,  their  owners  receiving 
compensation.    About  1200  establishments  were  closed  at  a 


n8  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

cost  of  3,655,095  francs  ($731,019).  This  sum  seems  ridicu- 
lously small  for  such  a  purpose,  to  those  who  are  accustomed 
to  the  scale  of  ransom  usually  extorted  from  other  states  by 
"vested  interests"  called  upon  to  make  sacrifices  to  the 
public  welfare.  But  the  Swiss  sovereign,  as  we  have  seen  in 
the  treatment  of  the  railroads,  is  not  a  sentimentalist.  His 
judgment  was  to  the  effect  that  the  owners  of  the  distilleries 
who  put  their  money  into  the  business  took  all  reasonable  risks 
in  doing  so,  and  that  among  these  risks  was  the  probability 
of  new  public  restrictions  on  the  drink  traffic. 

The  amount  of  compensation  was  measured  on  this  basis. 
The  sum  paid  to  a  distiller  was  calculated  to  amount  to  the 
depreciation  his  buildings,  machinery,  and  other  plant  suffered 
by  its  being  no  longer  available  for  distilling.  For  good-will 
or  future  profits  he  received  nothing. 

The  distilleries  whose  continuance  was  needed  for  domestic 
production  were  not  taken  over  by  the  Government.  They 
were  left  in  the  possession  of  their  owners,  but  were  placed 
under  the  closest  system  of  supervision  regarding  the  amount 
of  their  output,  the  materials  they  employ  and  their  methods 
of  accounts.  The  government,  for  instance,  fixes  the  price 
which  the  distilleries  shall  pay  for  potatoes  at  4-50  francs  per 
100  kilos.  If  the  distiller  can  buy  them  for  less,  that  is  his 
profit;  if  he  has  to  pay  more  the  government  reimburses  him 
one  half  of  the  excess.  The  distilleries  are  supposed  to  make 
no  profit  on  the  process  of  distillation.  The  government  pays 
them  cost  price  only  for  what  they  produce;  the  only  profit 
allowed  them  is  in  their  by-products  in  residuary  liquors  and 
stuffs  for  the  feed  of  cattle.  Government  even  takes  cognizance 
of  the  ill  treatment  of  employees,  although  this  is  not,  strictly 
speaking,  required  by  law.  In  one  case,  where  a  distiller 
had  cut  wages  down  too  far,  the  department  said  to  him,  "If 
you  do  not  treat  your  men  better,  when  we  give  out  our  licenses 
or  authorisations  next  year  you  will  not  be  among  the  number." 


NATIONALISATION  OF  ALCOHOL  TRADE   119 

The  process  of  rectification  of  the  liquor  is  in  the  hands  of 
government.  The  wholesale  distribution  is  done  by  the  gov- 
ernment through  three  public  depots,  all  sales  of  150  litres  or 
more  being  conducted  by  their  agents.  The  retail  trade  is 
left  in  the  hands  of  private  sellers,  and  is  subject  as  before  to 
cantonal  regulation.  The  foreign  spirit  is  bought  by  the  gov- 
ernment directly  from  dealers:  the  director,  M.  Milliet,  lets 
the  merchants  in  Hamburg  or  elsewhere  know  how  much  he 
wants  and  they  tender.  The  article  being  one  of  ascertainable 
value  and  open  to  daily  quotations,  the  government  are  able 
to  make  their  bargains  without  difficulty. 

Where  spirit  is  required  for  use  in  the  technical  arts  it  is  sold 
at  cost  price  (inclusive  of  duty  where  imported),  and  is  not 
subject  to  the  addition  (Monopolzuschlag)  by  which  govern- 
ment makes  its  profit  out  of  the  sales  for  drinking. 

The  price  at  which  the  rectified  spirit  is  sold  by  government 
is  fixed  by  law  within  a  maximum  and  minimum  limit.  At 
the  beginning  the  price  was  kept  low  in  order  to  prevent  the 
dealers  who  had  amassed  large  stocks  in  anticipation  of  restric- 
tive legislation  from  securing  the  huge  profits  at  which  they 
had  aimed.  But  in  1888  it  fixed  a  higher  price,  which  remained 
firm  until  1900,  when  an  alteration  in  the  law  required  another 
change  of  price.  The  price,  though  it  had  been  kept  high 
enough  to  yield  a  large  profit  for  distribution  amongst  the 
cantons,  is  in  itself  low.  The  chief  reason  for  this  is  the  neces- 
sity for  gradually  weaning  the  people  from  the  spirit  habit. 
What  the  government  does  is  to  sell  good  spirits  at  a  moderate 
price,  at  the  same  time  encouraging  the  preferential  use  of 
wine  and  beer  by  a  very  low  tariff  on  the  latter  drinks. 

In  conversation  with  M.  Milliet  I  probed  him  closely  as  to 
the  success  of  his  state  monopoly.  "It  depends  upon  what 
is  meant  by  success,' '  was  his  reply.  "So  far  as  the  sale  of 
spirits  is  concerned  it  has  been  distinctly  successful;  we  have 
put  down  the  numerous  small  distilleries  which  sold  bad,  cheap 


120  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

spirits  among  the  peasants;  the  quality  of  the  spirits  sold  is 
better,  for  the  retailer  seldom  adulterates  except  with  water; 
and  the  total  quantity  sold  has  declined  by  forty  per  cent  since 
the  establishment  of  the  monopoly. 

"But  from  the  standpoint  of  the  more  rigorous  temperance 
folk  it  is  a  failure.  For  the  declining  use  of  spirits  has  been 
more  than  compensated  by  a  growth  in  the  consumption  of 
wine,  beer,  and  cider,  so  that  in  actual  alcohol  the  amount 
per  head  of  the  population  is  larger  than  before." 

M.  Milliet  was  not  enthusiastic  about  the  result,  but  as  a 
practical  politician  and  reformer  he  considers  that  the  policy 
adopted  was  a  sound  one.  The  public  opinion  against  spirits 
was  not  strong  enough  for  drastic  methods;  it  was  necessary 
to  fortify  moral  sentiment  by  appeals  to  the  business  interests 
of  an  intensely  practical  people.  Wine,  beer,  and  cider  are 
important  Swiss  industries,  and  the  remission  of  taxation 
secured  for  these  liquors  at  the  passing  of  the  law  was  probably 
essential  to  obtain  its  acceptance.  Moreover,  cantonal  gov- 
ernment means  more  to  the  ordinary  Swiss  than  federal  gov- 
ernment, and  the  regulation  which  divides  the  profits  of  the 
federal  spirit  monopoly  among  the  cantons  in  proportion  to 
their  population  helps  much  to  conciliate  the  body  of 
citizens. 

Each  year  a  sum  between  five  and  seven  million  francs  is 
divided  among  the  cantons,  with  the  express  provision  that 
one  tenth  of  it  shall  be  devoted  to  "  combating  alcoholism." 
This  provision  sounds  very  interesting,  seeming  to  present  the 
possibility  of  a  vigorous  educational  policy  against  the  use  of 
alcohol.  But  an  investigation  into  the  interpretation  set  by 
the  cantons  upon  "combating  alcoholism"  shows  that  the 
great  bulk  of  the  money  is  expended  upon  charitable  works 
which  are  at  best  indirectly  related  to  the  drink  question.  The 
following  table  of  expenditure  by  canton  Zurich  for  1905  may 
serve  as  an  illustration: 


NATIONALISATION  OF  ALCOHOL  TRADE    121 

1.  For  drink  hospitals,  or  the  conveyance  of 

patients  to  them Fr.  10,460.00     $  2,092.00 

2.  For  forced-labour  homes  or  houses  of  cor- 

rection, or  for  conveyance  to  same  4,336.60  867.20 

3.  For  insane  asylums,  or  care  of  insane 8,802.00  1,760.40 

4.  For  care  of  sick  in  general  1,414.00  282.20 

5.  For  care  of  weak-minded   or  unprotected 

children  or  juvenile  criminals 10,908.00         2,180.60 

6.  For   feeding,  etc.,    of    school-children  and 

for  holiday-camps 15,367.00        3,073.40 

7.  For  epileptic,  deaf  and    dumb   and   blind 

hospitals,  or  for  conveyance  to  same 8,702.40  1,740.40 

8.  For  improvement  of  people's  food  in  general  6,772.00  1,354.40 

9.  For  care  of  poor  wayfarers 9,000.00  1,800.00 

10.   For  assistance  to  released  prisoners  or  un- 
employed    3,319.00  663,80 

Total Fr.  79,081.00  $  15,816.20 

On  the  most  liberal  computation  it  cannot  be  allowed  that 
more  than  about  one  quarter  of  this  money  is  expended  on 
"combating  alcohol,"  though  no  doubt  a  defence  can  be  made 
for  regarding  some  of  the  other  objects  to  which  money  is  de- 
voted as  results  of  alcohol.  Lucerne  and  Berne  appear  to  be 
the  only  other  cantons  devoting  any  considerable  share  of  the 
spirit  money  to  charities  directly  related  to  abuse  of  drink, 
nor  does  it  anywhere  appear  that  public  lectures  or  other 
educational  propaganda  against  alcohol  is  provided  by  the 
cantons  thus  pledged  to  "lalutte  contre  alcoholisme."  When 
we  come  to  more  backward  cantons  like  Schwyz,  Vaud,  and 
Ticino,  it  is  quite  evident  that  the  sum  is  regarded  as  available 
for  any  public  charitable  use,  and  that  virtually  no  regard  is 
paid  to  the  stipulation  that  required  it  to  be  applied  in  "com- 
bating alcoholism."  In  these  circumstances  it  is  no  wonder 
that  a  demand  is  rising  that  the  federal  government  shall 
be  empowered  to  exercise  some  supervision  over  the  employ- 
ment of  this  tithe. 

The  fuller  efficacy  of  the  federal  monopoly  requires  the  active 


122  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

co-operation  of  the  cantonal  or  municipal  governments  in  the 
control  of  the  retail  sale  of  liquor. 

But  though  a  few  of  the  cantons  have  made  recent  progress, 
both  in  the  restriction  of  numbers  of  saloons  and  in  "high 
license, "  it  cannot  be  said  that  the  local  governments  have 
gone  very  far.  How  difficult  it  is  to  deal  with  the  local  drink 
habits  may  be  illustrated  from  the  reform  licensing  law  of 
Urban  Bale  in  1887,  according  to  which  retail  trade  was  clas- 
sified as  follows:  (1)  the  sale  of  wine  and  beer,  (2)  the  sale  of 
spirits,  (3)  the  sale  of  wine  and  beer  by  employers  to  workmen. 

This  "factory  license"  has  now,  I  believe,  disappeared,  but  for 
a  number  of  years  it  remained  upon  the  statute  book.  Like  the 
federal  law  the  cantonal  law  favours  beer  and  wine  at  the  expense 
of  spirits,  imposing  higher  scales  of  license  duty  upon  the  latter. 

The  strictest  and  most  elaborated  licensing  law  is  in  the 
canton  of  Zurich,  where  all  forms  of  lodging-houses  or  places 
of  entertainment  are  graded  and  licensed,  whether  alcoholic 
drinks  are  sold  or  not,  and  where  careful  detailed  regulations 
are  imposed  upon  the  hours  of  labour  and  other  conditions  of 
employees,  designed  for  the  protection  of  labour  and  the  secur- 
ity of  public  order.  Here  the  licenses  for  the  sale  of  liquor 
are  closely  graded,  rising  in  the  case  of  premises  for  the  sale 
of  wine  and  beer  from  16s.  to  £&  ($4.00  to  40.00);  for  wine, 
beer,  and  spirits  from  14s.  od.  to  £12  ($3.50  to  60.00);  for 
spirits  alone  from  8s.  to  £16  ($2.00  to  80.00).  Here  the  policy 
of  the  federal  government  in  the  distribution  of  profits  is 
imitated,  for  though  all  the  proceeds  of  the  duties  go  in  the 
first  instance  to  the  canton,  a  quarter  of  them  is  returned  to 
the  parishes  on  a  basis  of  population. 

The  town  of  Bale  alone  has  imitated  the  federal  govern- 
ment in  the  establishment  of  a  municipal  monopoly  of  the  retail 
trade.  The  town,  virtually  forming  a  semi-canton,  and  thus 
endowed  with  plenary  legislative  powers,  passed  a  law  in  1888 
empowering  the  canton  to  take  over  the  retail  trade  in  spirits 


NATIONALISATION  OF  ALCOHOL  TRADE   123 

for  quantities  of  less  than  forty  litre.  The  canton  is  the  direct 
purchaser  from  the  federal  government  and  sells  the  spirits 
to  a  limited  number  of  retailers  whose  premises  are  licensed 
and  kept  under  close  police  supervision,  the  government  re- 
serving the  right  to  cancel  the  license  at  any  time  at  will  and 
without  compensation.  The  number  of  the  licenses  was 
twenty-five,  and  they  are  scattered  at  intervals  over  the  canton. 
The  profits  of  the  retailer  are  strictly  limited,  because  the  price 
at  which  they  buy,  and  that  at  which  they  sell,  is  determined 
by  the  canton,  and  the  official  price  list  must  be  openly  exposed 
to  the  view  of  the  customers.  The  effect  of  this  monopoly 
has  been  to  improve  the  quality  of  the  spirits  sold,  by  placing 
effective  checks  upon  adulteration,  and  to  reduce  the  aggregate 
consumption  both  in  relation  to  population  and  absolutely. 

As  in  the  federal  experiment  the  diminution  of  sale  of  spirits 
is  attended  by  a  rise  in  the  sale  of  wine  and  beer. 

If  a  similar  policy  of  local  regulation  were  generally  adopted 
the  federal  law  would  by  this  time  have  proved  an  even  more 
efficacious  instrument  for  the  work  to  which  it  was  directed. 

Meanwhile  M.  Milliet  is  entitled  to  congratulate  himself 
upon  the  checking  of  the  perilous  dram-drinking.  In  talking 
with  him  one  felt  strongly  the  difference  between  a  Swiss  legis- 
lator and  official,  compelled  always  to  look  closely  to  the  actual 
views  and  feelings  of  the  people,  and  the  bureaucrat  of  other 
continental  states.  The  hands  of  a  reforming  official  in  such 
a  state  as  Switzerland  are  less  free.  The  state  must  not  raise 
the  price  of  spirits  too  high  or  the  people  will  resent  it,  and 
care  must  be  taken  to  supply  cheap  spirits  for  industrial  uses, 
even  at  the  risk  of  some  of  this  spirit  being  revivified  for  drink. 
Liqueurs  distilled  from  native  fruits,  berries,  and  roots  must 
be  exempted  from  this  law.  Such  sort  of  consideration  had 
to  be  exercised  in  order  to  get  the  people  to  accept  a  law  so 
revolutionary  in  its  tendency  as  the  Alcohol  Monopoly  Law. 

But  M.  Milliet  insisted  that  there  were  great  advantages 


i24  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

derived  from  the  referendum  for  the  administration  of  such  a 
law.  "The  knowledge  which  the  referendum  provided, 
that  I  had  behind  me  the  great  majority  of  the  people,  gave 
me  the  moral  support  and  confidence  without  which  I  could  not 
have  successfully  administered  so  delicate  a  policy.  It  also 
showed  me  exactly  where  the  opposition  lay  and  what  interests 
I  must  manage  to  conciliate."  In  tackling  the  drink  habit 
M.  Milliet  knows  that  it  is  idle  to  get  through  by  "force  ma- 
jeure" a  legislative  policy  in  advance  of  public  sentiment. 
The  people  cannot  be  weaned  at  once  from  drink,  but  by  a 
judicious  preference  of  less  injurious  drinks,  like  light  wines 
and  beers,  and  by  restrictions  upon  spirits,  they  can  be  educated 
out  of  the  more  injurious  tastes.  Already  dram-drinking  has 
become  not  respectable  in  Switzerland.  The  decline  in  wine 
and  beer  may  follow,  though  far  more  slowly,  having  deeper 
roots  both  social  and  industrial  in  the  national  standard  of 
living.  Meanwhile,  though  there  is  not  less  drinking,  there 
is  less  drunkenness,  and  other  vices  and  diseases  closely  asso- 
ciated with  spirit-drinking  are  diminished. 

The  enemies  of  the  alcohol  monopoly,  the  small  abstinence 
party,  and  a  few  theoretic  opponents  of  state  control,  sometimes 
assert  that  the  statistics  of  reduced  consumption  of  spirits  are 
deceptive,  in  that  they  ignore  secret  stills,  smuggling  on  the 
German  frontier,  and  the  revivification  of  spirits  sold  for  indus- 
trial uses.  M.  Milliet,  however,  while  admitting  that  some 
illicit  distilling  may  go  on,  denies  that  it  has  any  magnitude; 
revivication  has  been  greatly  reduced  by  recent  improvements 
in  modes  of  methylating,  while  smuggling  cannot  be  carried 
on  profitably  from  neighbouring  states  where  higher  duties 
exist  than  in  Switzerland.  Of  course,  a  good  deal  of  success 
of  the  anti-drink  campaign  depends  on  the  co-operation  of 
the  cantons.  Here,  too,  the  same  compromise  must  be  worked 
between  morality  and  business;  the  cantonal  governments  are 
generally  ready  to  raise  their  license  duties,  and  have  in  most 


NATIONALISATION  OF  ALCOHOL  TRADE   125 

cases  raised  them  considerably  alike  for  spirits,  wine,  and  beer. 
But  considerations  of  cantonal  finance  forbid  them  to  go  too 
far  or  too  fast  in  repression  of  the  drink  traffic.  There  are 
also  the  local  interests  either  of  the  brewers  or  wine-growers, 
or  in  some  cantons  of  potato-growers,  to  weigh.  No  "high 
hand"  of  a  benevolently  despotic  government  is  possible  where 
every  enactment  may,  or  in  many  cases  must,  be  submitted  to 
a  vote  of  the  people. 

To  reformers  who  see  in  the  drink  trade  a  monster  iniquity 
and  desire  to  "  crush  it,"  the  experience  of  Swiss  democracy 
may  appear  somewhat  disheartening.  There  is  very  little 
"heroism"  and  much  calculating  compromise  in  their  method. 
But  a  clear  recognition  and  enforcement  of  the  fact  that  pro- 
gress cannot  go  faster  than  popular  feeling  and  intelligence  per- 
mit are  a  mighty  impetus  to  popular  education,  and  each  step 
thus  won  by  the  direct  consent  and  co-operation  of  the  people 
is  worth  much  more  than  advanced  legislation  imposed  upon 
a  reluctant  or  an  indifferent  people,  and  therefore  ill- adminis- 
tered. Although  no  proposals  of  prohibition  for  spirits  in 
general  have  any  present  prospects  of  success  in  Switzerland, 
a  special  campaign  directed  against  absinthe,  which  of  late 
years  has  made  an  insidious  advance  in  Neufchatel,  Vaud,  and 
other  cantons  bordering  on  France,  is  making  notable  progress. 
Recently  the  citizens  of  canton  Vaud  accepted  by  a  consider- 
able majority  a  law  for  the  prohibition  of  the  sale  of  absinthe, 
and  a  similar  law  drafted  for  the  Federal  Assembly  has  a  good 
chance  of  acceptance.  Here  is  a  new  victory  for  morals  and 
good  order,  though  it  is  a  significant  commentary  upon  Swiss 
politics  that  the  wine-growing  industry  in  Vaud  bore  an  im- 
portant part  in  organizing  the  attack  on  absinthe,  a  rival 
drink. 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE  STATE  FOR  THE  WORKERS 

The  supreme  test  of  democratic  institutions  in  the  future  will 
be  their  aptness  for  the  task  of  displacing  the  tyranny  of  private 
industrial  monopoly  and  the  anarchy  of  industrial  warfare  by 
an  industrial  commonwealth  which  shall  own  and  administer 
by  public  employees  all  the  industries  producing  goods  and 
services  the  sufficient  and  secure  supply  of  which  is  necessary 
to  the  health  and  fundamental  well-being  of  all  the  citizens. 
Exactly  how  much  municipal  and  state  socialism  the  applica- 
tion of  this  principle  involves  it  is  not  essential  to  discuss;  to  all 
clear-sighted  students  of  recent  politics  it  seems  evident  that 
the  energies  of  twentieth-century  democracy  will  be  mainly 
absorbed  in  this  reconstructive  work,  unless  some  malign 
destiny  should  compel  the  nations  of  advanced  civilisation  to 
spend  their  strength,  as  Mr.  Charles  Pearson  suggests,  in  ward- 
ing off  the  huge  incursions  of  new  barbarian  races  pouring  from 
Asia  or  from  Africa,  armed  with  scientific  weapons  of  precision 
and  threatening  the  existence  of  Western  democracy. 

Preparatory  to  the  fuller  constructive  work  which  belongs  to 
this  century,  and  towards  which,  as  we  have  seen,  Switzerland 
has  made  already  a  promising  beginning,  stands  that  work  of 
social  amelioration  which  plays  so  conspicuous  a  part  in  the 
politics  of  the  last  two  decades.  Partly  due  to  the  improved 
means  of  ventilating  grievances  and  voicing  concrete  needs 
afforded  by  increased  participation  of  the  people  in  government, 
partly  from  a  desire  of  the  governing  classes  to  divert  revolu- 
tionary forces,  so  as  to  avoid  inconveniently  grave  organic 
remedies,  modern  statesmen  have  been  driven  to  devote  more 

126 


THE  STATE  FOR  THE  WORKERS  127 

attention  to  working-class  legislation  than  heretofore.  The 
dominant  note  of  this  wish  has  been  not  social  reconstruction 
but  humanitarianism.  The  child,  the  aged  person,  the  sick, 
the  injured,  the  unemployed,  the  weaker  members  of  the  poorer 
classes,  have  been  the  objects  of  growing  public  solicitude: 
legal  provisions  have  been  made  protecting  and  assisting  them 
in  the  various  emergencies  of  work  and  life  against  which  they 
cannot,  or  do  not,  make  adequate  provision,  as  individuals, 
or  as  members  of  a  family.  Factory  and  other  industrial  legis- 
lation regulating  conditions  of  labour,  and  based  on  the  assump- 
tion that  children,  women,  and,  in  some  cases,  men,  are  inca- 
pable of  adequate  protection  through  labour  contracts;  insurance 
and  compensation  in  case  of  accident  or  sickness,  or  injury  to 
house  or  tools  or  cattle,  assistance  to  unemployed  workers, 
pensions  for  the  old,  schooling  and  sometimes  feeding  for  the 
young,  public  baths,  libraries  and  other  supports  designed 
primarily  for  the  help  and  information  of  the  workers  —  all 
this  and  much  more  falls  under  this  humanitarian  category. 
It  is  true  that  other  motives,  for  instance,  public  health,  political 
safety,  industrial  efficiency,  have  co-operated  in  this  legislation, 
but  the  distinctive  character  has  been  the  recognition  that  the 
state  shall  alleviate  certain  evils  inherent  in  the  working  of  the 
present  system,  instead  of  seeking  to  effect  organic  changes  in 
that  system. 

Such  being  in  the  main  the  work  to  which  modern  govern- 
ments, democratic  or  even  oligarchic  in  structure,  have  set 
themselves,  it  behooves  us  to  ask  how  far  does  Switzerland  sat- 
isfy this  "progressive"  test? 

The  general  answer  is  plain.  She  has  gone  as  far  or  further 
than  any  other  civilised  state  in  these  various  forms  of  allevia- 
tive  government.  Her  record  in  the  development  of  industrial 
legislation,  in  the  stricter  sense  of  that  term,  is  indeed  remark- 
able. Its  progress  and  the  method  of  its  achievement  by  the 
federal  instrument  deserve  particular  attention. 


128  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

When  early  in  the  nineteenth  century  the  factory  system  of 
manufacture  began  to  make  some  progress  in  East  Switzerland, 
the  canton  alone  was  competent  to  undertake  the  necessary 
regulation.  Zurich  and  Thurgau,  where  numerous  spinning 
mills  existed,  first  took  action  in  the  year  1815.  The  chief 
impulses,  as  in  the  beginnings  of  English  factory  legislation, 
were  in  part  humanitarian,  in  part  educational.  Children, 
driven  at  an  early  age  into  the  mill,  where  many  were  worked 
on  night  shifts,  were  growing  up  with  no  sort  of  education.  On 
the  motion  of  the  Educational  Council  the  canton  of  Zurich 
passed  an  ordinance  prohibiting  the  employment  of  children 
less  than  ten  years  old  in  factories,  and  limiting  the  hours  of 
labour  for  older  children  to  twelve  or  fourteen  hours  a  day, 
with  prohibition  of  night  work.  Thurgau  in  the  same  year 
passed  an  ordinance,  not  prohibiting  child  employment,  but 
fixing  a  maximum  day  of  twelve  to  fourteen  hours,  and  requir- 
ing employers  to  see  that  children  attended  school.  Some  other 
cantons  slowly  followed  suit,  generally  forbidding  night  labour 
for  ,  children  and  placing  restrictions  upon  hours  of  work 
by  day. 

As  time  went  on,  the  child  age  was  raised,  Zurich  fixing  it  at 
twelve  years  as  early  as  1832.  A  generation  later,  Aargau 
raised  this  limit  to  thirteen,  followed  in  this  limitation  by  Rural 
Bale  and  Glarus,  while  Urban  Bale,  in  1869,  raised  the  exemp- 
tion age  up  to  fourteen. 

But  while  much  of  this  early  legislation  related  to  the  employ- 
ment of  children,  the  regulation  of  hours  of  labour  for  other 
workers  was  not  neglected.  As  early  as  1848,  the  Glarus 
Landsgemeinde  passed  a  law  relating  to  work  in  spinning 
mills,  which  limited  hours  of  labour  for  all  workers,  fixing  a 
maximum  of  thirteen  hours  per  day  for  day  workers  and  eleven 
hours  for  night  workers,  besides  prohibiting  the  employment  of 
full-time  school  children  in  factory  work. 

It  is  worthy  of  note  that  in  this  revolutionary  year  so  advanced 


THE  STATE  FOR  THE  WORKERS  129 

a  step  in  the  legal  regulation  of  adult  male  labour  was  initiated 
by  a  canton  where  "pure  democracy"  prevailed. 

This  early  legislation  was  the  more  remarkable  because,  as 
the  factory  system  spread,  the  more  advanced  and  enlightened 
cantons  were  hampered  by  the  refusal  of  backward  neighbours 
to  conform  to  their  restrictive  policy. 

For  many  years  progress  was  thus  delayed  in  Zurich,  Glarus, 
and  the  other  progressive  cantons  by  the  greed  and  obstinacy 
of  certain  cantons  which  sought  to  play  the  "blackleg,"  and  to 
develop  their  factory  system  by  a  sweating  policy,  the  very 
problem  which  confronts  the  more  advanced  industrial  states 
of  the  American  Union. 

The  method  by  which  the  difficulty  was  overcome  is  in- 
structive. After  informal  approaches  and  reproaches  on  the 
part  of  the  advanced  cantons,  an  era  of  experiments  towards 
the  establishments  of  Intercantonal  Concordats  set  in.  Glarus 
and  Aargau  seem  to  have  taken  the  initiative,  and  to  have  made 
definite  proposals  to  the  backward  cantons  for  a  common  policy. 
The  matter  was  more  than  once  carried  as  far  as  a  formal 
conference,  attended  by  representatives  of  a  dozen  cantons,  in 
which  the  question  of  a  maximum  working-day  for  children, 
for  women,  and  even  for  men,  was  the  main  object  of  conten- 
tion. As  in  other  countries,  the  battle  was  first  waged  round 
the  cotton  factory,  which  then  represented  the  new  industrial 
system  in  its  most  advanced  form.  From  1855  to  1872  these 
endeavours  of  voluntary  agreement  among  the  cantons  were 
pressed,  sometimes  almost  to  a  successful  issue;  but  always  in 
the  end  a  refractory  minority  broke  through  the  proposed 
Concordat. 

Meanwhile,  the  question  of  securing  for  the  federal  govern- 
ment a  competency  to  impose  factory  laws  was  agitated,  taking 
first  the  necessary  shape  of  a  constitutional  amendment.  Re- 
jected when  first  presented  to  the  people  in  1872,  the  Federal 
Amendment  conferring  on  the  Bund  the  new  power  of  indus- 


i3o  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

trial  legislation  received  the  sanction  of  the  people  in  1874,  in 
the  following  form : 

"The  federal  government  is  empowered  to  establish  uni- 
form regulations  dealing  with  the  employment  of  children  in 
factories  and  with  the  hours  of  labour  of  grown  persons  in  the 
same.  It  is  likewise  authorised  to  pass  ordinances  for  the 
protection  of  workers  against  methods  of  conducting  trade 
which  endanger  the  health  and  safety  of  the  workers." 

Gradually  the  necessity  of  effective  factory  regulation  of  a 
general  character  had  been  gaining  popular  recognition.  The 
conservatism  of  the  people,  however,  precluded  them  from 
entrusting  this  function  to  the  federal  government,  so  long  as 
any  reasonable  chance  remained  of  action  through  the  cantonal 
governments.  But  when  the  breakdown  of  the  Concordat  in 
1872  attested  the  impracticability  of  this  instrument,  the  people 
had  the  wisdom  to  make  this  almost  revolutionary  change  in 
the  Federal  Constitution. 

Democracy  in  Switzerland  never  acts  in  a  hurry  and  therefore 
seldom  repents.  An  effective  answer  to  the  vulgar  notion  that, 
if  direct  legislation  is  vested  in  the  people,  ill-considered  and 
ill- drafted  laws  will  be  rushed  through,  is  furnished  by  the 
proceedings  which  followed  this  constitutional  amendment  of 
1874. 

The  preparatory  work  of  putting  into  operation  the  new  duty 
imposed  on  the  federal  government  was  entrusted  to  the  De- 
partment of  Railways  and  Commerce.  Their  first  step  was  to 
consult  the  governments  of  the  several  cantons,  and  through 
them  to  obtain  the  opinions  of  the  representatives  of  capital 
and  labour  in  the  various  districts.  With  the  material  thus 
gathered,  the  department  constructed  a  draft  proposal,  which 
was  then  submitted  to  a  commission  of  experts,  and  after 
further  change  was  published  in  the  press  and  circulated  in 
"interested  circles"  for  public  discussion. 

After  a  summer's  interval,  during  which  the  draft  measure 


THE  STATE  FOR  THE  WORKERS  131 

was  subjected  to  the  fullest  criticism,  the  Commission  of  experts 
again  considered  it  in  the  light  of  the  new  facts  and  feelings 
elicited,  and  after  passing  through  the  hands  of  the  Federal 
Council  it  was  laid  before  the  Federal  Assembly  in  December, 
1875,  in  the  form  of  a  Message. 

This  was  the  beginning  of  a  further  investigation.  A  Com- 
mission of  the  National  Council  was  appointed  which  set  on 
foot  a  separate  inquiry  into  the  factory  conditions  of  the  several 
industries  in  the  dozen  cantons  chiefly  concerned,  and  with  this 
fresh  information  before  them  reconsidered  in  the  sittings  the 
draft  law.  Their  report  to  the  National  Council  proposed 
some  minor  amendments.  Then  came  three  reports  of  the 
Commission  appointed  by  the  Council  of  States  (Standerat), 
one  report  containing  unanimous  suggestions,  followed  by  a 
majority  and  a  minority  report  on  matters  of  disagreement. 
The  chief  point  of  disagreement  related  to  the  proposed  power 
to  fix  a  normal  working-day  for  adults. 

When  the  draft  law  came  up  for  discussion  in  the  councils, 
this  point  was  the  kernel  of  contention,  the  Council  of  States 
only  accepting  this  proposal  in  December,  1876,  by  a  vote  of 
22  against  20. 

In  March,  1877,  the  draft  law  was  finally  accepted  by  the 
councils,  the  Council  of  States  voting  24  for,  13  against,  the 
National  Council  90  for,  15  against. 

This  law  was  naturally  challenged  by  an  application  for  a 
referendum,  the  initiative  being  signed  by  54,844  voters.  A 
stout  campaign  of  discussion  ensued,  and  for  six  months 
speeches,  debates,  and  pamphlets  dealing  with  the  Factory  Law 
rained  upon  the  electorate. 

Here,  as  in  the  Legislature,  the  principal  fight  was  over  the 
proposal  to  fix  a  normal  working-day,  though  the  whole  prin- 
ciple of  state  interference  with  private  business  enterprise  was 
challenged  by  the  opponents  of  the  law,  which  was  denounced 
as  a  first  instalment  of  Socialism,  an  injury  to  Swiss  industry, 


i32  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

involving  as  a  necessary  consequence  a  general  reduction  of 
wages. 

Cantonal  sentiment  was  also  evoked  against  the  increasing 
dominion  of  the  central  government.  The  referendum  vote 
which  took  place  in  October,  1877,  accepted  the  law  by  a  small 
majority  upon  a  very  large  poll,  the  numbers  being  181,204  for 
170,857  against. 

"The  Liberals  and  Conservatives  voted  against  it,  the  Rad- 
icals and  Catholics  for  it.  In  the  cantons,  Zurich,  St.  Gall, 
Appenzell,  and  also  in  almost  all  the  French  cantons,  the  voting 
showed  a  majority  against  the  law,  whilst  in  Neufchatel,  Glarus, 
Bale,  Schaffhausen,  Aargau,  Thurgau,  and  Solothurm,  as  also 
in  Berne  and  in  the  rural  cantons  of  German  Switzerland,  the 
majority  declared  themselves  in  favour  of  the  law."  * 

No  sooner  was  the  Factory  Law,  thus  adopted  by  a  small 
majority,  in  force,  than  the  policy  it  embodied  was  subjected 
to  the  test  of  a  severe  trade  depression,  which  showed  itself  in 
the  industrial  cantons,  exciting  in  many  quarters  a  strong 
opposition  to  the  enforcement  of  the  law.  Petitions  were 
organised  and  presented  to  the  Federal  Council  to  secure  powers 
for  a  general  remission  of  some  of  the  more  rigorous  conditions 
of  the  law.  But  the  Federal  Council  stood  firm:  the  voice  of 
the  people  had  spoken,  accepting  the  law  which  had  been  so 
carefully  matured,  and  they  were  not  prepared  to  take  part  in 
any  attempt  to  reverse  or  even  modify  its  character.  The  force 
of  the  storm  was  at  last  broken  by  the  action  of  the  labour 
unions,  which  entirely  refused  to  endorse  the  assertion  of  the 
opponents  of  the  law  that  a  fall  of  wages  had  occurred  in  con- 
sequence of  the  legal  reduction  of  hours  of  labour.  The  work- 
ers stood  firmly  by  the  new  law,  although  the  change  from  time 
to  piece-wages,  which  took  place  in  a  number  of  industries, 
caused  them  at  first  some  alarm :  the  increase  in  the  productivity 

1  Die  Arbeiter -schutz  Gesetzgebung  der  Schweiz,  von  Dr.  T.  Landmann, 
p.  xxxvii. 


THE  STATE  FOR  THE  WORKERS  133 

of  labour  resulting  from  shortening  of  hours,  together  with  an 
appreciation  of  the  value  of  the  increased  leisure,  served  to 
allay  any  initial  feeling  of  dissatisfaction  arising  from  a  slight 
reduction  in  piece-wages. 

The  resentment  of  employers  was  slower  to  disappear,  but 
after  the  first  outcry  it  gradually  died  down.  By  1880  the 
Factory  Inspectorate  was  able  to  affirm  that  "there  was  not 
much  complaining  about  the  restriction  of  the  hours  of  labour"; 
in  the  Report  of  1881  we  read,  "  Factory  employers  and  workers 
have  in  many  places  grown  accustomed  to  the  normal  work-day, 
and  look  back  with  no  regret  to  the  longer  hours  of  labour," 
whilst  the  Report  of  1882  avers  that  "even  the  former  opponents 
are  contented  with  the  Normal  Work-day,  and  one  very  seldom 
hears  any  complaint  about  it." 

The  main  provisions  of  this  Factory  Act  were  as  follows :  A 
normal  work-day  of  eleven  hours  was  fixed  for  all  industrial 
establishments  in  which  "a  more  or  less  considerable  number 
of  work-people"  were  " occupied  simultaneously  and  regularly 
out  of  their  dwellings  and  in  a  closed  building"; *  this  work-day 
to  commence  not  earlier  than  5  a.m.  in  June,  July,  and 
August,  6  a.m.  in  other  months,  and  to  end  not  later  than 
8  p.m.  In  dangerous  occupations  the  Federal  Council  has 
further  power  to  fix  the  hours.  For  night  work  and  overtime 
special  permission  has  to  be  obtained.  An  hour's  midday 
interval  is  secured  for  all,  and,  where  Sunday  work  is  specially 
allowed,  alternate  Sundays'  rest  must  be  given. 

All  night  work  and  Sunday  work  is  prohibited  in  the  case  of 
women,  and  rigorous  rules  for  "close  time"  at  and  before  child- 
birth are  laid  down.  Fourteen  is  laid  down  as  the  minimum 
age  for  employment  of  children.    Young  persons  under  eighteen 

1  This  defective  definition  of  factory  was  amended,  1891,  in  a  later  resolution 
to  cover  all  establishments  employing  machinery  and  power,  or  carrying  on 
dangerous  processes  where  five  persons  are  employed,  and  all  other  establish- 
ments where  eleven  or  more  are  employed. 


134 


A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 


may  not  be  employed  at  nights  or  on  Sundays,  save  in  the 
special  case  of  industries  requiring  uninterrupted  work. 

Careful  rules  regarding  the  sanitation  of  factories  are  de- 
vised: legal  liability  for  compensation  in  cases  of  accident  is 
imposed  on  the  employer,  unless  it  can  be  proved  that  the 
accident  is  due  to  unpreventable  causes  or  to  the  negligence  of 
the  victim.  Other  clauses  relate  to  payment  of  wages  in  legal 
tender  at  regular  periods,  fines  and  deductions,  and  the  deter- 
mination of  the  contract,  etc. 

Fines  and,  in  case  of  repeated  infractions,  terms  of  imprison- 
ment, are  provided  for  breaches  of  the  act. 

In  addition  to  this  federal  Factory  Act,  three  other  federal 
enactments  of  a  restrictive  character  deserve  mention  as  in- 
dicative of  the  trend  of  democratic  government. 

The  first  is  the  law  prohibiting  the  manufacture  and  sale  of 
phosphorous  matches,  the  history  of  which  is  in  its  way  not  less 
significant  than  that  of  the  wider  measure  just  described. 

Here  the  initial  impulse  was  strictly  humanitarian,  consisting 
in  a  resolution  passed  in  the  later  seventies  by  the  Medical 
Surgical  Society  of  Berne,  calling  the  attention  of  the  govern- 
ment to  the  peril  of  Necrosis.  As  a  result  of  action  taken  in 
the  Legislature,  early  in  1878,  ofhcial  inquiries  were  made  into 
the  condition  of  the  match  industry  by  the  Federal  Council, 
which,  after  long  discussion  in  the  legislative  bodies,  ended  in 
the  passing  of  a  law  at  the  close  of  1879,  prohibiting  the  use  of 
"  yellow "  phosphorus.  The  result  of  this  action  was  not,  how- 
ever, very  satisfactory;  the  new  phosphorus-free  matches  were 
clumsy  articles  and  were  very  unpopular;  the  trade,  encouraged 
by  this  circumstance,  was  very  pressing  for  a  law  substituting 
regulation  for  prohibition,  and  in  a  weak  moment  the  govern- 
ment gave  way,  passing  in  June,  1882,  a  law  which  virtually 
annulled  that  passed  a  year  and  a  half  before.  A  revival  of  the 
agitation  upon  humanitarian  lines  soon  ensued,  and  the  con- 
dition of  the  trade  was  once  more  the  subject  of  several  ofhcial 


THE  STATE  FOR  THE  WORKERS  135 

inquiries.  Reports  were  secured,  once  more  condemning  the 
use  of  phosphorus,  and  in  December,  1889,  the  National  Council 
had  assented  to  a  proposal  for  its  prohibition,  but  the  further 
progress  of  the  measure  was  postponed  by  the  project  for  the 
national  monopoly  of  the  match  industry,  which  was  vigorously 
pressed  until  it  was  rejected  by  a  referendum  in  September, 
1895.  Thereupon  the  prohibition  issue  was  revived,  and  even- 
tually, in  March,  1899,  a  new  law  was  passed  embodying  the 
prohibition  policy,  and  in  July,  1900,  it  came  in  force  with 
respect  to  the  manufacture  of  matches,  in  April,  1901,  to  the 
purchase  of  the  same. 

Another  natural  and  necessary  extension  of  the  protective 
power  of  Federal  Law  was  the  restriction  of  hours  of  employ- 
ment for  railroad  employees.  The  nucleus  of  this  legislation  is 
found  in  a  proviso  of  the  Railroad  Law  of  1872,  that  every 
railroad  worker  should  have  every  third  Sunday  "free."  This 
concession  led  to  a  vigorous  movement,  first,  for  an  increase  in 
the  number  of  "free  Sundays,"  afterwards  to  a  demand  for 
legal  restrictions  upon  the  working-day  in  general.  In  1882 
the  Federal  Council  adopted  resolutions  limiting  the  hours  of 
nominal  employment  (Prasenzdauer)  of  railway  workers  to 
sixteen,  the  hours  of  actual  labour  to  eleven,  with  further  regu- 
lations as  to  periods  of  rest  and  off-days.  A  law  embodying 
most  of  these  proposals  was  passed  in  1890.  A  good  deal  of 
friction  was  encountered  from  the  companies  in  the  adminis- 
tration of  these  laws,  and  the  genuine  control  of  the  federal 
government  could  not  be  regarded  as  effective  until  after  the 
acceptance  of  the  Nationalisation  Law  in  1898.  At  the  close 
of  1899  a  number  of  measures  relating  to  the  employment  were 
adopted,  chief  amongst  which  were  the  following: 

(1)  Reduction  of  the  working-day  to  eleven  hours,  with  a 
further  reduction  in  certain  special  cases. 

(2)  Provision  of  an  hour's  rest  about  the  middle  of  the  work- 
ing-day. 


136  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

(3)  Fifty-two  rest-days  for  all  sorts  of  employees,  with  an 
additional  eight  consecutive  days'  holiday  for  the  more  respon- 
sible orders  of  workers,  the  rest  of  the  employees  to  have  eight 
consecutive  days  out  of  their  fifty-two  rest-days. 

(4)  A  rest-day  to  include  a  previous  or  subsequent  night  so 
as  to  give  a  continuous  rest  of  not  less  than  thirty- two  hours. 

The  most  developed  application  of  the  restrictive  policy  is 
provided  by  the  Federal  Law  of  December,  1902,  which  limits 
the  actual  working-day  to  eleven  hours,  out  of  a  nominal  work- 
day of  from  twelve  to  fifteen  hours,  in  the  cases  of  various  orders 
of  employees,  forbids  all  night  work  for  women,  with  a  few 
exceptions  in  the  telegraph  and  waiting-rooms,  etc.,  and  limits 
night  work  for  men  to  fourteen  days  a  month.  The  policy  of 
fifty-two  rest-days  per  year,  with  eight  days'  continuous  holiday, 
is  further  extended  and  enforced. 

The  other  important  instance  of  federal  legislation  for  the 
protection  of  workers  is  the  enforcement  of  employers'  liability 
for  injuries.  The  nucleus  of  this  legislation  is  found  in  the 
Railroad  Law  of  1872,  which  gives  the  government  power  to 
make  regulations  "  respecting  the  obligations  of  the  above- 
mentioned  transport  companies  in  relation  to  compensation 
for  deaths  and  injuries  which  occur  in  construction  and  work- 
ing." 

After  the  adoption  of  the  1874  Constitution,  giving  the  federal 
government  a  general  power  of  regulative  legislation  in  the  case 
of  factories,  a  loose  and  provisional  law  was  passed  in  1877 
empowering  judges  to  assess  damages  for  injuries  on  a  general 
consideration  of  the  circumstances  of  each  case.  After  long 
investigation  and  much  debate  this  law  was  superseded  by  an 
employer's  Liability  Act  of  1881,  influenced  in  its  structure 
partly  by  the  recent  German  legislation  of  Bismarck,  partly  by 
the  English  Act  of  1881. 

The  general  tenor  of  this  act  was  to  saddle  the  employers 
with  full  responsibility,  and  liability  for  full  compensation  in  all 


THE  STATE  FOR  THE  WORKERS  137 

cases  except  where  contributory  negligence  on  the  part  of  the 
victim  or  other  workers,  or  "  force  majeure,"  could  be  estab- 
lished, in  which  cases  the  employer's  liability  is  either  dimin- 
ished or  annulled. 

The  fuller  application  of  this  policy  was  delayed  until  1887, 
when  another  act  was  passed,  extending  Employer's  Liability 
for  railroads  and  factories  to  the  building  trades,  transport 
industries  in  general,  the  laying  down  and  repair  of  telephones 
and  telegraphs,  the  installation  and  removal  of  machinery,  and 
other  technical  apparatus,  the  making  of  railways,  tunnels, 
roads,  bridges,  waterworks,  etc.,  mining  and  digging,  the  works 
of  public  corporations,  and  works  subsidiary  to  or  connected 
with  factories  but  not  within  the  factory  premises. 

Federal  legislation  on  the  labour  contract  follows  tolerably 
closely  the  main  lines  of  German  and  English  acts:  voluntary 
consent  of  employer  and  employed  is  recognised  as  the  basis 
of  contract,  the  government  confining  itself  to  securing  pub- 
licity for  the  terms  of  contract  and  the  fulfilment  of  the  terms. 
Certain  limitations  are,  however,  placed  upon  methods  of  pay- 
ment, wages  must  be  paid  in  money,  at  fixed  times  and  places, 
with  restrictions  upon  fines  and  deductions;  due  notices  must  be 
given  for  the  termination  of  a  contract,  etc. 

Such  is  the  main  course  of  the  development  of  federal  legis- 
lation in  control  of  industry. 

It  is  important  in  considering  it  to  bear  in  mind  the  division 
between  federal  and  cantonal  authority  laid  down  by  Article 
34  of  the  1874  Constitution,  which  confined  the  legislative  com- 
petency of  the  federation  to  factories,  leaving  all  other  sorts  of 
works  to  the  authority  of  the  canton.  Although,  as  we  have 
seen,  a  very  wide  interpretation  of  the  term  " factory"  has  been 
secured,  while  the  extension  of  federal  management  or  control 
over  transport  and  other  departments  of  industry  has  greatly 
enlarged  the  practical  power  of  industrial  legislation  thus  pos- 
sessed, it  remains  none  the  less  true  that  the  major  part  of 


138  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

industry  lies  under  the  control  of  the  cantons.  It  is,  therefore, 
important  to  understand  how  far  the  federal  policy  is  supple- 
mented by  corresponding  legislation  in  the  cantons. 

Federal  legislation  may  be  said,  partly  to  have  led  the  way, 
partly  to  have  forced  the  hand  of  the  cantonal  governments. 
The  necessarily  arbitrary  distinction  between  factory  and  non- 
factory  labour  within  the  same  trade  gave  rise  to  much  agita- 
tion in  the  smaller  workshops  for  cantonal  laws,  which  should 
put  these  workers  on  the  same  favourable  footing  as  the  factory 
workers. 

This  movement  in  the  main  followed  the  same  lines  as  the 
factory  legislation;  viz.,  it  aimed  first  and  foremost  at  the  pro- 
tection of  women  and  children,  and  the  substance  consisted 
mainly  of  restrictions  on  the  hours  of  labour. 

The  first  canton  to  take  action  was  Urban  Bale,  which  passed 
a  law  in  1884  regulating  the  labour  of  women:  it  was  closely 
followed  by  Rural  Bale  (1888),  Glarus  (1892),  St.  Gall  (1893), 
Zurich  (1894),  Lucerne  (1895),  Solothurm  (1895),  Neufchatel 
(1901),  and  Aargau  (1902),  all  of  which  passed  special  laws 
restricting  the  work-time  of  women. 

The  general  effect  of  these  laws  was  to  reduce  the  working- 
day  to  eleven  or  ten  hours  for  women,  to  prohibit,  or  greatly  to 
restrict,  night  work,  to  provide  Sunday  and  other  holidays,  to 
impose  a  midday  rest  of  an  hour,  to  restrain  the  employment  of 
young  persons  or  children.  Zurich,  Bale,  Glarus,  and  St.  Gall 
have  throughout  taken  the  lead  in  imposing  the  more  drastic 
regulations. 

In  Glarus,  Vaud,  and  Obwalden,  most  of  the  regulations  of 
the  acts  are  applicable  to  men  as  well  as  to  women,  and  in 
Obwalden  the  working-day  for  men  as  for  women,  in  work- 
shops and  in  shops,  is  restricted  to  eleven  hours. 

Other  important  measures  supporting  and  amplifying  this 
policy  exist.  "The  Licensing  Laws  of  most  cantons  contain 
regulations  for  the  protection  of  the  employees  of  inns  and  tav- 


THE  STATE  FOR  THE  WORKERS  139 

erns,  the  school  legislation  and  the  pedlars'  acts  were  made 
serviceable  for  the  protection  of  children,  the  ancient  Sunday 
observance  legislation  took  more  and  more  the  character  of 
laws  for  the  ensurance  of  Sunday  rest  in  the  workshops.  The 
apprentice  enactments,  which  originally  were  intended  only  as 
laws  for  the  furtherance  of  the  handicrafts,  gradually  took  on 
regulations  designed  for  the  protection  of  the  labour-power  of 
the  young,  as  for  example  in  canton  Geneva,  where  a  former 
apprentice  law  was  diverted  to  the  purpose  of  protecting  the 
young."  As  the  federation  set  the  pace  for  the  more  advanced 
cantons,  so  the  movement  proceeds  by  contagion  among  the 
cantons.  "The  progressive  steps  taken  in  one  canton  soon 
call  for  imitation  in  others,  the  number  of  the  cantons  that  are 
supplementing  the  federal  legislation  through  their  own  laws 
constantly  increases,  the  aims  are  constantly  enlarged  and  the 
areas  of  this  cantonal  legislation  grow  wider,  possibly  paving 
the  way  for  a  Federal  Workshop  Law  in  the  same  way  that  the 
Cantonal  Factory  Laws  paved  the  way  for  the  Law  of  1877." 

This  union  of  federal  and  cantonal  industrial  legislation  has 
not,  however,  yet  covered  the  whole  field  of  labour,  and  even  in 
those  branches  which  have  been  subjected  to  legal  restrictions 
much  remains  to  be  done.  "Agricultural  occupations  and 
commercial  offices  are  entirely  unprotected.  The  retail  trades 
are  only  subject  to  a  restricted  measure  of  protection  by  means 
of  cantonal  laws  for  women  workers,  and  inns  and  drinkshops 
are  in  the  same  position.  Handicrafts  in  which  men  only  are 
employed  are  only  subject  to  the  Sunday  rest  law  and,  in  four 
cantons,  to  the  apprentice  legislation.  Handicrafts  in  which 
women  workers  are  employed  are  included  without  exception 
under  legal  protection  in  the  cantons  Zurich,  Lucerne,  Glarus, 
Solothurm,  Aargau,  and  Neufchatel,  without  regard  to  the  num- 
ber of  work  women  employed;  in  the  canton  of  St.  Gall  only 
those  businesses  come  under  the  women's  protective  laws  which 
employ  more  than  two  workers,  in  the  canton  Bale  City  only 


140  A   SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

those  with  more  than  three  employees,  though  both  in  Bale  City 
and  St.  Gall  it  holds  good  that  businesses  with  less  than  three 
workers  come  under  the  law,  in  cases  where  they  employ  a  girl 
of  under  eighteen  years." 

The  division  of  labour  between  the  federal  and  cantonal 
governments  with  regard  to  legislation  directly  dealing  with 
conditions  of  labour  is  in  some  ways  applicable  to  other  legis- 
lation affecting  the  interests  of  the  workers,  though,  when  we 
come  to  matters  intimately  affecting  the  lives  of  the  people,  the 
commune  also  plays  an  important  part  as  an  independent 
legislative  and  administrative  unit.  Sickness,  accidents,  old 
age,  unemployment,  burial,  are  the  principal  emergencies  in 
working-class  life  against  which  provision  must  be  made.  To 
these  in  Switzerland  may  be  added  loss  of  cattle,  tools  or  other 
property,  for  a  large  proportion  of  the  wage-earners  are  pos- 
sessed of  some  such  property. 

Now,  though  in  Switzerland  as  in  other  countries  private 
capitalism,  or  working-class  co-operation,  has  organised  many 
insurance  companies  for  dealing  with  some  of  these  risks,  while 
private  charitable  institutions  help  to  alleviate  others,  the  state 
in  one  or  other  of  its  areas  plays  a  considerable  part. 

One  of  the  most  important  tests  of  a  modern  state  consists 
in  the  realisation  and  fulfilment  of  its  duty  to  tackle  the  problem 
of  unemployment,  which,  in  the  new  industrial  and  social  con- 
ditions of  modern  life,  assumes  new  grave  aspects  and  forms  a 
permanent  source  of  disorder  in  the  body  politic.  The  indi- 
vidual worker,  the  family,  the  trade-union  or  friendly  society, 
are  all  in  various  ways  able  to  make  provision  against  loss  of 
work  arising  from  individual  misfortune  or  minor  irregularities 
of  trade,  but  they  have  not  been  able  to  provide  adequate  relief 
for  the  "unemployment,"  caused  by  large  rapid  changes  in 
methods  of  production,  such  as  the  introduction  of  labour- 
saving  machinery  into  large  staple  industries,  or  by  the  great 


THE  STATE  FOR  THE  WORKERS  141 

waves  of  industrial  depression  which  from  time  to  time  affect 
the  general  industry  of  whole  nations.  Slowly  the  public  mind 
in  most  countries  is  coming  to  accept  the  view  that  organised 
society  as  a  whole,  that  is  the  state,  alone  is  strong  enough  to 
grapple  with  the  social  waste  and  danger  of  this  larger  unem- 
ployment. There  is  as  yet  no  accepted  policy,  it  is  the  age  of 
experiment.  No  country  is  so  fruitful  a  field  for  these  experi- 
ments as  the  twenty-five  little  states  of  Switzerland.  Each  has 
been  free  to  apply  its  own  methods,  and  they  have  been  very 
various. 

The  thin  end  of  the  wedge  in  the  recognition  of  a  public  duty 
towards  the  unemployed  is  the  establishment  of  Labour  Regis- 
tries to  bring  employees  in  want  of  work,  and  employers  in  want 
of  workmen,  into  communication.  Here  the  state  merely 
supplements  the  private  agencies  which  do  this  work,  the 
ordinary  registry  offices  or  employment  bureaus  and  the  trade 
unions. 

Not  very  much  is  done  along  this  line  in  Switzerland  by 
public  authorities.  There  are,  however,  some  half  dozen 
Public  Employment  Registries,  supported  in  one  instance,  that 
of  Bale,  by  the  canton,  in  other  instances  by  the  municipality, 
as  in  Berne,  Schaffhausen,  Winterthur,  and  Zurich.  All  these, 
and  a  few  others  which  have  lapsed,  have  been  established  since 
1890.  Two  of  them,  those  of  Berne  and  Bale,  may  be  consid- 
ered distinct  successes,  judged  by  the  number  of  applications 
successfully  entertained,  Bale  during  recent  years  finding  em- 
ployment of  some  ten  thousand  applicants  per  annum  or  nine 
tenths  of  the  total  number:  the  other  experiments  are  smaller 
and  altogether  weaker  in  results. 

Dr.  Reichesberg,  analysing  the  figures  for  Bale,  comes  to  the 
conclusion  that  "they  show  that  the  persons  who  apply  to  the 
Registry  to  find  them  places,  and  the  persons  whom  employers 
seek  to  engage  through  the  Registry  are  principally  men  en- 
gaged in  season  trades  or  unskilled  workmen"  —  a  conclusion 


i42  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

in  conformity  with  the  experiences  in  other  countries.  The 
building  trades,  domestic  service,  day  labourers,  carters,  por- 
ters, messengers,  and  gardeners,  furnish  a  very  large  majority  of 
the  applicants. 

More  novel  and  interesting  are  the  Relief  Stations  and  Trav- 
ellers' Homes,  which,  following  the  lines  of  German  experiment, 
are  endeavouring  to  assist  those  of  the  "unemployed  "  who  are 
moving  about  in  search  of  work.  Nearly  two  hundred  of  these 
Relief  Stations  exist,  "distributed  in  such  a  manner  as  not  to 
be  too  near  nor  yet  too  far  from  one  another.  Relief  is  only 
afforded  to  those  applicants  who  are  provided  with  proofs  of 
identity,  and  can  satisfy  the  management  that  they  have  had 
some  occupation  in  the  previous  three  months.  Only  one  meal 
(dinner)  or  one  night's  shelter  with  food,  can  be  granted  to  the 
same  applicant  in  the  same  half  year,  and  stimulants  are  for- 
bidden under  penalties.  Each  shelter  consists  of  two  depart- 
ments ;  the  first,  in  which  the  case  of  the  applicant  is  considered 
before  admission,  and  the  second,  in  which  food  and  shelter  are 
provided  for  the  applicant  if  admitted.  The  former  of  these 
two  departments  is,  if  possible,  associated  with  the  nearest 
police  station  in  order  to  facilitate  the  verification  of  papers  of 
identity,  etc.,  of  the  applicants." 

Though  relief  is  always  free,  a  test  of  work  of  from  two  to 
four  hours  is  sometimes  imposed.  There  are  a  number  of 
lodging-houses  of  a  superior  type,  chiefly  used  by  better  class 
working-men,  which  may  be  regarded  as  a  part  of  the  system- 
atisation  of  travel  in  search  of  work. 

The  system  is  administered  by  private  agencies,  in  connec- 
tion with  the  Swiss  Inter- Cantonal  Relief  Federation  and  the 
Swiss  Federation  of  Christian  Travellers'  Homes;  but  since  a 
considerable  part  of  the  expense  is  defrayed  by  the  cantonal 
governments,  they  may  here  be  regarded  as  part  of  the  state 
machinery  for  dealing  with  unemployment. 

Neither  of  the  afore-mentioned  methods  can  be  considered  as 


THE  STATE  FOR  THE  WORKERS  143 

other  than  auxiliary  to  the  ordinary  private  system  of  employ- 
ment. Of  a  different  nature  are  the  two  Labour  Colonies  which 
exist,  the  one  at  Tannershof  for  the  canton  of  Berne,  the  other 
at  Herdern  in  canton  Thurgau,  for  all  parts  of  Switzerland. 

Application  to  these  colonies,  the  principal  work  of  which  is 
agriculture,  with  building  as  supplementary,  is  made  by  men 
who  bind  themselves  to  stay,  for  two  months  at  Tannershof, 
four  weeks  at  Herdern.  It  cannot  be  said  that  either  the  scale 
of  the  experiment  or  the  conditions  under  which  it  is  conducted 
are  such  as  to  throw  important  light  on  the  possibilities  of  the 
Labour  Colony  as  a  remedy  for  unemployment.  A  consider- 
able proportion  of  the  inmates  have  been  convicted  of  crimes, 
many  inmates  are  of  weak  health  or  infirm  mind,  and  an  average 
stay  of  three  months  is  hardly  enough  to  test  the  educative 
value  of  such  treatment.  A  certain  amount  of  curative  and 
elevating  work,  however,  appears  to  be  accomplished,  and  about 
half  the  inmates  seem  to  get  situations  when  they  leave.  But 
the  character  of  these  colonies  is  hardly  such  as  to  make  them 
suitable  to  furnish  relief  to  bond  fide  workingmen  whose  lack  of 
work  is  due  to  trade  causes  or  personal  misfortune  and  not  to 
inefficiency. 

Here,  too,  the  administration  is  in  private  hands,  the  cantons 
contributing  a  subsidy. 

One  other  attempt  to  deal  with  unemployment  by  public 
effort  or  public  money  requires  mention,  viz.,  Municipal  Unem- 
ployed Insurance.  Berne  and  St.  Gall  furnish  two  different 
experiments,  Berne  of  a  voluntary,  St.  Gall  of  a  compulsory 
scheme.  According  to  the  Berne  scheme,  established  in  1893, 
any  Swiss  citizen  resident  in  that  city,  who  has  paid  eight  monthly 
premiums  and  has  been  in  employment  for  at  least  six  months 
of  the  year,  can,  if  he  is  out  of  work  during  the  three  winter 
months  (December,  January,  and  February),  claim  a  daily 
allowance,  after  a  week's  unemployment,  which  is  continued 
for  a  maximum  period  of  ten  weeks.    Unemployment  due  to 


144  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

incapacity  to  work  gives  no  claim.  The  Insurance  Fund,  to 
which  nearly  six  hundred  men  subscribed  in  1 900-1,  is  admin- 
istered by  a  sub-committee  of  the  Municipal  Labour  Registry, 
and  is  operated  in  close  connection  with  that  institution. 

The  most  striking  fact  in  the  experiment  is  the  very  large 
proportion  of  the  subscribers  who  come  upon  the  fund,  over 
sixty-three  per  cent  in  1901.  The  great  majority  of  the  sub- 
scribers belong  to  the  building  trades,  most  of  them  being 
builders'  labourers. 

The  fund  was  primarily  intended  to  be  self-supporting,  but  as 
actually  administered  it  exhibits  a  large  deficit  met  out  of 
municipal  and  charitable  funds.  Even  with  this  public  as- 
sistance the  fund  has  stood  on  a  very  unstable  basis.  Dr. 
Hoffman,  writing  in  1903  on  Unemployed  Insurance,  says: 
"Only  upon  one  point  has  a  practically  unanimous  opinion 
been  arrived  at,  that  is,  upon  the  entirely  impracticable  char- 
acter of  Voluntary  Municipal  Unemployed  Insurance  —  an 
opinion  largely  based  upon  the  experience  of  the  Berne 
Fund." 

A  bolder  experiment  was  conducted  for  two  years  by  the 
municipality  of  St.  Gall,  in  the  shape  of  an  insurance  scheme 
compulsorily  applicable  to  all  male  wage-earners  earning  an 
average  sum  of  less  than  four  shillings  a  day,  and  not  already 
insured  in  a  society  furnishing  unemployed  pay  equal  in  amount 
to  that  provided  by  the  Compulsory  Insurance  Scheme.  This 
scheme  was  embodied  in  a  cantonal  law  providing,  among  other 
conditions,  that  no  one  should  receive  unemployed  pay  unless 
it  was  found  impossible  to  offer  him  "work  suitable  to  the  trade 
to  which  he  belonged,  or  up  to  his  strength,  remunerated  by 
the  wages  current  in  the  district." 

St.  Gall  adopted  a  scale  of  premiums  varying  with  the  daily 
earnings  of  the  insured,  and  the  Unemployed  Pay  was  based  on 
the  premiums.  The  Fund  received  a  subsidy  from  the  Muni- 
cipality, and  the  scheme  was  placed  under  the  administration 


THE  STATE  FOR  THE  WORKERS  145 

of  a  committee  of  nine  members,  two  appointed  by  the  Muni- 
cipal Council,  seven  chosen  from  the  insured  workmen.  The 
grave  difficulties  of  working  such  a  scheme  soon  became  ap- 
parent. Numbers  of  persons  failed  to  register;  of  those  who 
did  register  a  largely  excessive  number  registered  in  the  lowest 
class,  thereby  paying  a  premium  quite  incommensurate  with  the 
rate  of  unemployed  pay;  many  defaulted  in  the  payment  of 
premiums.  By  the  second  year  of  the  operation  of  the  scheme 
it  became  quite  apparent  that  the  benefits  were  almost  exclu- 
sively enjoyed  by  a  small  number  of  workmen,  chiefly  of  the 
building  trade:  no  adequate  attempt  was  made  to  verify  the 
fact  of  unemployment,  or  to  inquire  into  the  causes,  and  very 
grave  abuses  undoubtedly  occurred.  The  scheme  became  so 
unpopular  with  the  respectable  working-men  that  it  was  aban- 
doned after  the  end  of  the  second  year  of  trial. 

Though  it  seems  possible  that  a  more  carefully  administered 
scheme  of  compulsory  insurance  might  be  more  successful,  the 
difficulty  of  enforcing  regular  payments  from  all  sorts  and 
conditions  of  workers  would  probably  prove  insuperable.  The 
very  industrial  conditions  which  make  such  insurance  impor- 
tant preclude  the  regularity  of  contributions  on  the  part  of  many 
grades  of  workers. 

The  problem  of  providing  for  the  old  age  of  the  workers  by 
pensions  or  by  institutional  homes  has  never  come  up  as  a 
national  question  in  Switzerland,  as  it  has  in  Germany,  France, 
Great  Britain,  and  other  European  countries.  This  is  partly 
attributable  to  the  fact  that  large  numbers  of  Swiss  workers 
retain  some  rights  in  the  allmend  of  their  commune  or  some 
other  guild  claim  which  helps  them  to  secure  a  support  during 
old  age  in  their  native  village  or  town.  In  general  it  may  be 
said  that  the  Swiss  burgher  can  look  to  his  commune  for  an 
assistance  in  old  age  which  involves  no  sense  of  personal  degra- 
dation, but  is  taken  as  a  right  of  citizenship. 

But  in  recent  times  the  communal  task  has  been  largely 


i46  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

supplemented  by  the  cantons,  an  increasing  number  of  which 
are  setting  up  cantonal  institutions  for  the  aged  poor,  part  of 
the  funds  for  which  are  drawn  from  the  public  purse,  part  from 
charitable  donations.  In  some  instances  the  communes  con- 
tribute towards  a  central  institution.  The  cantons  which 
already  possess  these  Old  Age  Homes  are  Zurich,  the  two 
Bales,  Geneva,  Vaud,  Thurgau,  St.  Gall,  and  Neufchatel. 

The  fullest  and  best  provision  is  made  in  Geneva  and  in 
Berne.  The  Asile  des  Vieillards  in  Geneva  dates  back  to 
1849,  though  it  has  been  reconstituted  a  few  years  ago.  The 
minimum  age  of  admission  is  sixty,  and  it  is  open  not  only  to 
born  Genevese,  but  to  other  Swiss  and  even  to  foreigners  who 
have  resided  some  time  in  Geneva.  A  small  monthly  payment 
is  taken  (varying  from  forty  to  sixty  francs)  and  a  comfortable 
and  even  dignified  home  is  provided,  with  light  work  at  choice 
and  a  library  of  2569  volumes.  The  Asile  contained  in  1899 
thirty-nine  men  and  fifty  women. 

Associated  with  it  is  an  insurance  scheme,  also  dating  back 
to  1849,  by  which  a  single  premium  at  birth  or  a  yearly  premium 
entitles  at  the  age  of  sixty  to  a  monthly  pension  of  forty  francs 
as  an  alternative  to  admission  within  the  Asile.  At  the  end 
of  1899  there  were  three  hundred  and  twenty-five  persons 
insured,  the  majority  living  on  their  forty  francs  outside  the 
Asile. 

The  numbers  may  seem  small,  but  Geneva  is  a  very  pros- 
perous city,  with  a  very  small  proportion  of  poor,  and  probably 
this  provision  is  ample. 

Mr.  Dawson  gives  a  happy  picture  of  the  Asile  or  Old  People's 
Refuge  in  Berne.1  ''Originally  a  private  foundation,  offering 
to  a  few  aged  people  of  respectable  antecedents  a  quiet  home 
for  the  evening  of  their  life,  it  has  come  to  be  regarded  more 
and  more  as  a  sort  of  municipal  almshouse,  and  on  an  enlarged 
basis  it  is  now  wisely  and  successfully  managed  by  the  author- 

1  Social  Switzerland,  by  W.  H.  Dawson,  Ch.  XVI. 


THE  STATE    FOR    THE   WORKERS  147 

ities  of  the  town.  There  are  probably  few  happier  spots  in 
Berne  than  the  building  in  which  nearly  a  hundred  old  men 
and  women,  all  over  sixty  years  (which  is  the  minimum  age  of 
admission),  mostly  over  seventy,  and  many  well  over  eighty,  are 
housed,  fed,  and  clothed,  without  care  or  anxiety  upon  their 
part." 

"Work  is  quite  voluntary  in  the  Old  People's  Refuge.  But 
though  no  one  is  compelled  to  do  anything  at  all,  every  one  is 
glad  enough  to  have  employment  of  some  kind.  The  men  do 
gardening  in  summer,  wood-cutting  in  all  seasons,  with  a  little 
carpentry  in  the  workshops,  while  the  women  knit,  sew,  mend, 
screen  coffee,  and  take  part  in  certain  domestic  and  culinary 
duties.  For  those  who  do  not  wish  to  work  there  are  books, 
magazines,  newspapers,  and  games,  with  tobacco  for  the  men, 
and  for  the  women  those  tea-pots  for  two,  which  stimulate 
gossip  in  the  known  way.  As  for  their  meals,  they  are  break- 
fast at  seven,  a  sip  of  wine  at  nine,  dinner  at  twelve,  coffee  at 
four,  and  supper  (soup)  at  six." 

Not  a  few  other  institutions  of  the  kind  are  found  in  other 
towns.  So  far  as  organised  care  of  the  aged  is  a  test  of  civilisa- 
tion, Switzerland  will  certainly  rank  among  the  first  nations. 

The  proportion  of  aged  poor  to  the  population  is  certainly 
much  smaller  than  in  Germany  or  Great  Britain,  and  the  hu- 
mane comfortable  provision  is  better  than  in  these  countries. 
The  undertaking  of  the  duty  by  small  areas  of  government 
instead  of  by  the  national  government  is  clearly  advantageous. 
The  state  in  its  smaller  areas  of  commune  and  canton  has  long 
assisted  in  the  work  of  insuring  its  members  against  damages 
to  person  and  property.  Long  before  the  days  of  insurance 
companies  the  guilds  and  corporations  which  undertook  to 
insure  their  members  against  sickness  and  losses  by  fire,  water, 
robbery,  etc.,  were  partly  dependent  upon  contributions  from 
public  funds.  In  the  nineteenth  century,  most  of  this  work 
passed  into  the  hands  of  private  insurance  companies  largely 


i48  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

organised  with  German  capital  and  control.  Berne,  however, 
which  early  in  the  century  established  a  voluntary  scheme  of 
cantonal  insurance  against  fire,  passed  a  law  in  1880  making 
such  insurance  compulsory.  This  example  was  followed  by 
some  other  cantons,  the  insurance  policy  being  extended  in 
certain  cases  to  cover  live  stock  and  other  movables. 

Though  insurance  against  sickness  and  accidents  was  gen- 
erally left  to  private  business  associations,  or  else  to  religious 
societies,  trade  unions  or  other  mutual  aid  companies,  the  idea 
of  state  insurance  gained  ground,  and  with  reference  to  these 
larger  injuries  it  was  felt  by  many  that  the  poorer  cantons  were 
financially  inadequate  and  that  the  federation  should  undertake 
the  business. 

The  movement  once  initiated  ripened  fast,  and,  since  the 
matter  lay  outside  the  domain  of  the  existing  Constitution,  a 
constitutional  amendment  was  first  required.  After  an  almost 
unanimous  vote  of  the  Assembly  the  following  amendment  was 
submitted  to  the  people  in  a  referendum  in  1890,  and  was 
accepted  by  a  very  large  majority.1  "The  Confederation  will 
by  statute  establish  invalid  and  accident  insurance,  having 
regard  to  already  existing  invalid  funds.  It  may  declare 
participation  to  be  obligatory  upon  all  or  upon  special  classes 
of  inhabitants." 

Then  a  curious  bit  of  history  was  enacted,  exhibiting  a  certain 
waywardness  in  the  public  mind,  or  perhaps  an  intelligible 
change  of  attitude  in  passing  from  general  principle  to  concrete 
policy. 

After  the  large  vote  on  the  constitutional  amendment  it 
seemed  certain  that  the  law  for  federal  insurance,  the  chief 
promoter  of  which  was  Forrer,  would  be  accepted. 

It  passed  the  Lower  House  with  a  single  hostile  vote,  and 
the  Upper  House  was  also  almost  unanimous.  But  during  the 
interval  before  the  referendum  a  powerful  and  ably  organised 

1  283,228  for  92,200  against;  only  \\  cantons  against. 


THE  STATE    FOR   THE   WORKERS  149 

opposition  sprang  up,  outside  the  ranks  of  the  party  leaders. 
Three  prominent  journalists,  Micheli,  Repond,  and  Augustine, 
took  the  lead  in  rallying  the  opponents  of  the  law  and  in  edu- 
cating the  public  mind  against  it.  A  paper  was  started  called 
Les  Assurances  Federates,  gare  du  comite  d' action  contre  la  loi: 
costly  circulars  and  posters  were  showered  all  over  the  French 
and  Italian  cantons:  an  expensive  campaign,  financed  by  the 
insurance  companies  and  by  wealthy  manufacturers,  was  put 
in  operation.  So  successful  was  this  hostile  propaganda  that, 
when  the  voting  day  came,  the  law  was  rejected.  A  number 
of  different  causes  contributed  to  this  change  of  mind,  some  of 
which  are  thus  summarised  by  a  competent  political  student : 

"  Furstenberger  tells  me  how  the  insurance  law  was  defeated. 
The  law  combined  too  many  propositions;  accident  insurance 
and  sick  insurance,  these  were  different  questions.  The  law 
called  on  employers,  on  employees,  on  the  state  —  all  for  con- 
tributions, but  who  was  to  pay  the  employers'  contributions  in 
the  case  of  day  labourers  (journaliers),  who  had  no  regular 
employers?  There  were  in  French  Switzerland  many  little 
societies  of  mutual  help  for  insurance  against  sickness  or  death. 
Every  possible  concession  was  made  to  them ;  they  were  allowed 
to  retain  their  own  existence  and  their  own  power  of  assessing 
their  members;  but  they  were  required  to  place  themselves 
under  the  regulations  of  the  law  in  regard  to  perfecting  their 
very  imperfect  system.  This  they  were  not  willing  to  do. 
They  preferred  their  own  bad  system  of  private  insurance  to  a 
better  system  by  the  state. 

" '  We  wish  to  remain  independent,'  they  said.  The  principal 
cause  apart  from  this  was  financial.  The  socialists  were  op- 
posed to  the  law.  Why,  it  is  not  easy  to  say.  One  reason  was 
that  they  demanded  that  the  state  should  hand  over  its  con- 
tributions to  the  trades-unions  but  retain  no  supervision.  They 
wanted  the  trades-unions  to  be  the  instruments  through  which 
the  insurance  was  effected.    Then,  too,  there  was  a  theoretical 


150  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

objection  to  the  assessment  of  the  individual.  The  socialists 
felt  that  the  state  should  make  the  whole  payment  necessary. 
The  large  employers  were  against  the  law;  the  French  indi- 
vidualists were  against  it,  as  they  are  against  every  law,  i.e.,  for 
collective  action,  —  against  the  bank;  against  the  railroads; 
against  the  insurance." 

Though  this  knockdown  blow  disposed  of  the  proposal  for  a 
time,  it  is  believed  that  a  law  more  carefully  planned  to  con- 
ciliate the  opposing  interests,  and  dividing  the  policy  of  public 
insurance  by  giving  the  accident  insurance  to  the  federal,  the 
sick  insurance  to  the  cantonal  government,  will  be  accepted  by 
the  people  at  no  distant  date. 

INDUSTRIAL  LEGISLATION 

APPENDIX 

Taking  as  our  criterion  the  regulation  of  the  time  of  labour, 
and  as  our  principal  tests,  the  age  limit  for  employment  of 
children,  and  the  hours'  limit  of  adults,  we  shall  find  that  upon 
the  whole  Switzerland  ranks  as  the  most  advanced  industrial 
country  in  the  world. 

To  the  federal  legislation  which  absolutely  precludes  em- 
ployment of  children  below  fourteen  years  of  age  in  factories, 
and  apportions  a  section  of  the  eleven-hour  factory  day  to  edu- 
cation up  to  the  age  of  sixteen,  we  must  add  the  cantonal  laws, 
most  of  which  fix  a  limit  higher  than  that  usual  in  other  coun- 
tries. 

In  nearly  all  the  cantons  high  educational  requirements  place 
important  restrictions  upon  the  employment  of  children  and 
young  persons.  The  following  is  a  list  of  the  school  attendance 
regulations  in  the  different  cantons: 


THE  STATE  FOR   THE   WORKERS 


151 


All-day 

Partial 

Instruction 

Instruction 

until 

until 

15 

18  [19] 

14 

16 

13 

18 

12  [13] 

14  [16] 

14 

i5  [16] 

16  [girls  15] 

IS 

13 

16 

i5  [14] 

15  [17] 

13 

16 

14 

13 

iS 

14  [15] 

14 

15  [girls  14] 

14 

14 

18 

13 

iS 

13 

iS 

13 

15 

16  [15] 

19 

15 

17  [19] 

14 

14 

Aargau 

Appenzell,  A.  R.  . 
Appenzell,  I.  R. . . 

Bale,  Rural 

Bale,  City   

Berne 

Freiburg    

Geneva 

Glarus   

Graubiinden   

Lucerne 

Neufchatel 

St.  Gall   

Schaffhausen 

Schwyz 

Solothurm   

Ticino 

Thurgau 

Unterwalden,  ob. 
nid. 

Uri    

Vaud 

Valais 

Zug 

Zurich 


The  bracketed  numbers  refer  to  weakly  children  or  others 
affected  by  special  circumstances. 

On  the  application  of  the  second  test,  regulation  of  hours  of 
labour  for  adults,  Switzerland  also  stands  almost  on  a  level  with 
France  in  the  extension  of  legal  restraints  to  male  as  well  as  to 
female  labour,  and  with  Austria  in  her  limitation  of  the  factory 
day,  though  the  British  laws,  nominally  applicable  to  women 
only,  carry  in  effect  an  even  closer  restriction  upon  men's  hours 
than  are  secured  by  Switzerland. 

The  following  interesting  table  recently  prepared  by  the 
International  Labour  Association  summarises  the  comparative 
position  of  the  chief  European  industrial  nations: 


152 


A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

LEGAL    REGULATION    OF   THE   WORKING    HOURS 


Germany 

Austria 

France 

Legal    Limitation 

of  Daily  Work- 

ing Hours: 

i.  In  Factories 

11  hours;  on  Sat- 

11 hours. 

Between  11  and  12 

(a)  For  Men 

urdays      and     holi- 

hours. 

(b)  For  Women 

days,  10  hours. 

10  hours. 

2.  In  Mines 

For  women ,  under- 

10 hours. 

Between  8  and  10 

(a)  For  Men 

ground  work  forbid- 

In     collieries,     9 

hours. 

(b)  For  Women 

den;  above  ground, 

hours;    underground 

Above  ground,  10 

as  in  factories.     For 

work          forbidden ; 

hours. 

men    in    Prussia    a 

above  ground,  6,  7, 

maximum    day,  de- 

10 hours. 

pendent  on  sanitary 

conditions. 

3.  In  Handicrafts 

In  workshops  with 

10  hours  when  to- 

(a) For  Men 

mechanical     motor- 

gether  with   women 

(6)  For  Women 

power  having  to  do 

and  young  persons. 

with  clothing,  wash- 

10 hours. 

ing,  and   confection- 

ery, as  in  factories; 

otherwise,      unregu- 

lated. 

4.  In  Commerce 

Only  regulated  in 

(a)  For  Men 

open  market-places, 

(b)  For  Women 

n£  to  12!  hours. 

5.  In  Transport 

Seamen   in   ports, 

Railway   servants, 

(a)  For  Men 

to    hours;     in     the 

stokers  and  machin- 

(b) For  Women 

tropics,     8      hours ; 

ists,  10  hours;  other 

at    sea,  every   other 

employees,  12  hours. 

watch. 

6.  In  Public  Houses 

On  duty,  16  hours. 

(a)  For  Men 

(b)  For  Women 

THE   STATE   FOR   THE   WORKERS  153 

OF  ADULT  MALE   AND   FEMALE  WORKERS 


Great  Britain 

Italy 

Netherlands 

Switzerland 

Textile     factories, 

12  hours. 

11  hours. 

11  hours. 

10  hours;  Saturdays, 

5$  hours.    Non-tex- 

tile     factories,     io£ 

hours;  Saturdays,  7^ 

hours. 

Above  ground,  10 

Above  ground,  12 

hours. 

hours. 

Same  as  1  (6). 

In  one  canton,  11 
hours;    in  two  can- 
tons, 10  hours;  in  six 
cantons,  11  hours. 

In  one  canton,  11 
hours. 

Railway  servants, 

11  hours. 

16  hours  in  one  day, 

42   hours  in  3  days, 

168     hours     in     14 

days;  work  involving 

special   exertion,    10 

hours. 

CHAPTER   X 


INDUSTRIAL  PEACE 


The  pacific  character  of  Swiss  democracy  is  illustrated  in  the 
rapid  recent  adoption  of  Courts  of  Conciliation  and  of  Arbi- 
tration for  trade  disputes  between  employers  and  workers. 
The  willingness  of  the  body  of  Swiss  workers  to  enter  such 
courts,  attested  by  the  referendum  in  a  number  of  cantons,  as 
well  as  by  the  fact  that  in  several  instances  the  proposal  for 
legal  settlement  of  industrial  disputes  was  initiated  by  trade 
unions,  is  a  remarkable  testimony  to  the  confidence  of  the 
working  classes  in  public  justice. 

The  courts  are  entirely  of  modern  origin  and  owe  their 
structure  largely  to  imitation  of  French  and  German  models. 
The  earliest  cantons  to  experiment  were  Neufchatel  and 
Geneva,  which  naturally  turned  favourable  eyes  to  the  French 
system  of  Conseils  de  Prudhommes.  Geneva  was  the  first  to 
adopt  the  system  at  the  beginning  of  1884,  extending  its  scope 
in  1 89 1  from  manufactures  and  commerce  to  agriculture  and 
domestic  service,  and  enlarging  the  body  of  the  settlement  so 
as  to  secure  that  "disputes  arising  between  masters  and  work- 
men, employers  and  employees,  employees  and  apprentices, 
masters  and  domestic  servants,  in  all  that  concerns  the  payment 
of  services,  the  execution  of  work  and  the  control  of  appren- 
ticeship shall  be  decided  by  the  Tribunals  of  Prudhommes." 

The  employers  and  employed  in  each  group  of  trades  elect 
their  representatives,  fifteen  for  each  side,  to  form  a  Conseil. 
The  numbers  choose  by  ballot  a    committee    consisting  of 

154 


INDUSTRIAL   PEACE  155 

president,  vice-president,  secretary,  and  vice- Secretary,  the 
presidency  and  the  other  offices  being  held  alternately  by  an 
employer  and  a  workman,  with  the  further  proviso  that,  when 
the  president  or  the  secretary  is  an  employer,  the  vice-officer 
must  be  a  workman,  and  vice-versa. 

The  work  of  the  Conseil  is  divided  as  follows.  First  comes 
the  Conciliation  Board,  consisting  of  an  employer  and  a  work- 
man, who  preside  by  turns.  This  Board  has  summary  powers 
of  decision  in  cases  involving  sums  not  exceeding  20  francs. 
In  case  of  disagreement  between  the  members,  or  where  suffi- 
cient evidence  for  a  summary  judgment  is  lacking,  the  case  is 
referred  to  the  second  board,  the  Tribunal. 

The  Tribunal  de  Prudhommes  consists  of  a  president,  three 
employers,  and  three  workmen,  hears  evidence  and,  where 
necessary,  summons  experts,  and  gives  final  decisions  in  cases 
not  involving  more  than  500  francs. 

Cases  involving  larger  sums  are  carried  to  the  third  court, 
the  Chamber  of  Appeal,  which  consists  of  a  president,  five 
employers,  five  workers,  and  a  secretary  (without  a  vote). 

Finally,  certain  cases  where  competence  of  jurisdiction  is 
disputed  are  referred  for  decision  to  a  mixed  court  composed 
of  two  judges  of  the  Court  of  Justice  (nominated  by  this  court) 
and  three  Prudhommes  chosen  from  among  themselves  by  the 
Chamber  of  Appeal. 

The  proceedings  of  the  Tribunal  and  the  Chamber  of  Appeal 
are  public,  and  careful  rules  are  provided  to  secure  that  no 
member  of  a  court  shall  have  any  interest  direct  or  indirect 
that  is  prejudicial  to  the  impartiality  of  his  judgment  in  the 
case  he  is  called  upon  to  try. 

The  Conseils  have  also  other  functions  of  a  more  general 
order.  They  are  summoned  by  the  cantonal  government  to 
deliberate  upon  questions  affecting  industry  and  commerce. 
A  special  committee  of  Prudhommes  determines  questions 
regarding  the  execution  of  contracts,  and  constitutes  a  sanitary 


156  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

authority  regarding  the  conditions  of  trades.  Finally  a  central 
committee,  consisting  of  two  elected  delegates,  forms  a  reporting 
and  mediating  committee  between  the  Conseils  de  Prudhommes 
and  the  Council  of  State  and  governmental  departments,  and 
is  also  entrusted  with  general  powers  of  investigation  into 
industrial  conditions,  hygienic,  technical,  and  educational. 

Such  is  the  system  in  force  in  Geneva  and  Vaud.  Two 
other  cantons,  Neufchatel  and  Solothurm,  which  had  adopted 
the  same  method,  exchanged  it  later  on  for  what  is  commonly 
known  as  the  method  of  Arbitration  Courts. 

The  distinctive  feature  of  this  method  is  the  appointment  of 
the  president  of  the  Industrial  Court  from  outside  the  trade 
the  disputes  of  which  he  has  to  arbitrate,  thus  securing  a  pre- 
siding officer  of  guaranteed  impartiality  and  usually  of  higher 
experience  and  general  competency. 

The  eight  cantons  applying  this  method  may  be  divided 
into  two  groups,  according  to  the  method  of  appointment  of 
the  president.  The  so-called  German  group  place  the  appoint- 
ment in  the  hands  of  some  governmental  body;  in  Berne  the 
general  body  of  members  of  the  Industrial  Courts  elects;  in 
St.  Gall  the  district  Court,  in  Lucerne  the  High  Court,  in 
Neufchatel  the  Great  Council.  In  what  is  known  as  the  Bale 
Group,  the  president  is  appointed  by  law.  In  Bale  itself  he 
is  one  of  the  presidents  of  a  Civil  Court,  in  Zurich  a  district 
judge  appointed  from  among  his  fellow  judges;  in  Freiburg 
and  Solothurm  a  special  official  is  provided  by  the  law. 

In  other  respects  these  Courts  of  Industry  conform  tolerably 
closely  to  the  general  structure  of  the  Conseils  de  Prudhommes. 
A  separate  court  is  formed  in  each  set  of  industries,  an  equal 
number  of  employers  and  workers  are  chosen  by  their  fellows 
as  judges  or  assessors,  and  out  of  these  the  actual  court  is  con- 
structed, the  president  having  sometimes  the  right  to  nominate 
his  colleagues  from  the  judges  of  the  group  concerned,  as  in 
Bale,  sometimes  the  body  of  the  court  consisting  of  the  entire 


INDUSTRIAL   PEACE  157 

number  of  qualified  judges  chosen  from  the  body  of  employers 
and  employed,  as  in  Berne. 

The  detailed  processes  of  conciliation  and  arbitration  differ 
considerably  in  the  various  cantons,  but  the  general  lines  of 
procedure  are  the  same.  For  the  arbitration  of  a  dispute  the 
aggrieved  party  enters  a  suit,  following  in  some  cases,  e.g.,  Bale 
and  Zurich,  the  ordinary  civil  procedure,  in  others  conforming 
to  a  special  prescribed  form.  Cases  of  conciliation  are  not 
taken  in  public,  and  the  disputants  must  appear  in  person. 
Arbitration  Courts,  however,  are  public.  Here  too,  the  rule 
is  that  the  parties  must  appear  in  person  and  conduct  their 
own  case,  though  representation  is  permitted  in  certain  in- 
stances where  sickness,  military  service,  or  other  special  cause, 
intervenes,  and  a  few  cantons  allow  the  employer  to  be  rep- 
resented by  another  official  of  his  firm.  As  a  rule,  in  case  of 
the  non-appearance  of  either  party,  judgment  goes  by  default, 
though  in  a  few  cases  opportunity  is  afforded  for  reopening 
the  case.  Counter-charges  are  permissible,  provided  the  matter 
comes  within  the  competence  of  the  court,  and  in  some  cantons, 
provided  that  the  counter-charge  has  relation  to  the  same  set 
of  circumstances.  The  methods  of  testimony  conform  to  the 
ordinary  usages  of  the  civil  courts,  sittings  are  arranged  so  far 
as  possible  to  suit  the  convenience  of  the  parties,  the  judgments 
are  given  publicly  by  word  of  mouth  or  in  writing,  and  are 
enforcible  by  the  ordinary  processes  of  law. 

In  considering  the  extent  to  which  this  method  of  conciliation 
and  arbitration  is  applied,  it  must  be  remembered  that  in 
several  of  the  Cantonal  Laws  local  option  in  the  application  of 
the  law  is  provided,  and  that  only  a  few  industrial  towns  have 
yet  come  in.  Further,  the  law  is  not  compulsory  upon  all 
trades,  even  where  it  is  adopted ;  only  tolerably  well  organised 
industries  are  fitted  for  effective  application,  and  even  when 
the  law  gives  compulsory  and  generally  applicable  powers,  they 
cannot  be  enforced  in  many  small  irregular  industries. 


158  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

Perhaps  Bale  presents  the  largest  systematisation  of  the 
courts,  and  the  following  grouping  indicates  its  operations: 
Ten  Courts  of  Arbitration  deal  with  disputes  in  these  groups 
of  trades:  (i)  Textiles.  (2)  Earth  and  building  works.  (3) 
Woodwork.  (4)  Metals.  (5)  Foodstuffs  and  Liquors.  (6) 
Clothing  trades.  (7)  Paper-making  and  polygraphic  industry. 
(8)  Chemicals.  (9)  Transport.  (10)  Retail  trade  and  other 
callings  (banks,  insurance,  employments  connected  with  liter- 
ature, art  and  science). 

In  some  cantons  the  procedure  is  entirely  or  virtually  gra- 
tuitous, the  costs  being  borne  by  the  public;  this  is  the  case  in 
Geneva,  Neufchatel,  Vaud,  Solothurm,  Bale,  and  Freiburg. 
In  other  cantons  a  single  court  fee,  varying  from  1  franc  to 
20  or  30,  is  imposed. 

In  several  of  the  cantons,  the  application  of  the  law  depends 
upon  local  option,  so  that  only  certain  industrial  towns  make 
use  of  it.  As  a  rule  both  the  Conseils  and  the  Industrial  Courts 
have  worked  smoothly  and  given  general  satisfaction.  More  and 
more  of  the  industrial  cantons  are  adopting  these  substitutes 
for  strikes  and  lock-outs,  and  several  other  German  cantons 
are  contemplating  the  adoption  of  the  scheme. 

It  is,  however,  right  to  recognise  that  the  habits  of  class 
antagonism  in  industry  are  not  easily  displaced,  and  grumbling 
is  sometimes  heard  respecting  the  partiality  of  the  courts. 
This  generally  takes  the  form  of  accusing  the  judges  of  leaning 
to  the  workmen's  side,  and  in  Bale  a  good  deal  of  ill  feeling 
against  the  courts  has  once  or  twice  arisen  in  the  ranks  of  the 
employers. 

In  Zurich,  where  in  1889  Courts  of  Arbitration  with  a  Board 
of  Conciliation  were  established  by  private  arrangement  between 
employers  and  workers  in  half  a  dozen  trades,  the  experiment 
proved  so  unsatisfactory  to  the  employers  that  in  the  second 
year  their  associations  withdrew  and  the  experiment  lapsed  for 
several  years,  being  at  last  revived  in  1899  by  a  cantonal  decree. 


INDUSTRIAL   PEACE  159 

The  following  table  gives  a  fair  indication  of  the  spread  of 
this  method  of  industrial  peace  in  many  of  the  chief  centres  of 
industry,  with  some  account  of  the  relative  success  of  concilia- 
tion and  of  arbitration. 

The  figures  make  it  evident  that  a  very  large  amount  of  minor 
friction  is  saved  by  these  courts.  They  also  indicate  that  the 
courts  are  far  more  often  used  as  methods  of  redress  for  alleged 
grievances  by  workers  than  by  employers.  This  is  perhaps  at 
present  the  weak  point  in  the  system,  although  it  should  be 
borne  in  mind  that  the  number  of  claims  capable  of  pecuniary 
assessment  would  naturally  be  far  greater  on  the  side  of  work- 
men than  of  employers,  most  of  the  cases  at  issue  being  claims 
for  wages. 


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A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 


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CHAPTER  XI 


MUNICIPAL  OWNERSHIP 


In  an  early  chapter  we  discussed  the  historical  significance  of 
the  commune,  the  Gemeinde,  as  the  cell  of  the  democratic 
organism,  showing  the  sources  of  its  political  and  economic 
strength.  When  this  self-governing  commune,  retaining  often 
in  the  allmend  or  in  the  various  quasi-public  trusts  large  landed 
endowments  designed  for  the  common  good,  has  grown  into  a 
large  modern  city,  we  should  expect  to  find  a  great  development 
of  municipal  enterprise.  Nor  should  we  be  disappointed. 
Such  cities  as  Zurich,  Berne,  Geneva,  Bale,  Schaffhausen,  rank 
to-day  among  the  foremost  cities  of  the  world  for  the  variety 
and  efficiency  of  their  public  services  administered  either  directly 
or  through  bodies  elected  by  the  people.  Some  glimpses  have 
already  been  afforded  of  the  multifarious  activities  of  these 
large  communes,  in  the  control  of  the  drink  traffic,  the  assistance 
of  the  poor,  the  unemployed,  and  other  social  weaklings,  etc. 
But  no  picture  has  been  given  of  the  general  structure  of  the 
civic  life  of  such  a  town  as  Berne  or  Zurich.  How  have  these 
Swiss  communities  dealt  with  those  important  problems  relating 
to  "public  utilities"  which  have  come  up  swiftly  and  silently 
duj  ing  a  single  generation  in  every  advanced  industrial  country  ? 
Although  Switzerland  is  not  a  land  of  mushroom  cities, 
most  of  her  towns  have  grown  relatively  fast  and  have  during 
the  last  thirty  years  emerged  from  an  almost  mediaeval  sim- 
plicity, as  regards  drainage,  lighting,  transit,  and  other  public 
arrangements,  into  the  position  of  thoroughly  equipped  modern 
communities. 

161 


i62  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

As  in  other  countries  most  of  the  initial  work  was  left  to 
private  business  enterprise;  capitalistic  companies  came,  saying, 
"  We  will  give  you  water,  we  will  light  your  streets  and  houses, 
and  carry  you  about  the  town,"  and  they  got  profitable  conces- 
sions. Then  came  an  era  of  gradual  enlightenment :  intelligent 
citizens  began  to  see  that  they  had  handed  over  to  private 
groups  of  profit-makers  the  power  to  tax  them  to  an  extravagant 
extent  for  necessaries  and  conveniences  which  they  might  have 
provided  for  themselves,  and  that  they  possessed  no  adequate 
control  either  over  the  quality  of  these  services  or  over  the 
conditions  under  which  they  were  provided.  In  a  word,  the 
Swiss  citizen,  like  the  citizen  of  Chicago  or  of  Birmingham, 
was  brought  up  against  the  triple  danger  of  private  monopoly, 
rates  fixed  without  competition  so  as  to  yield  the  maximum 
profit  to  investors,  services  determined  in  quantity  and  char- 
acter not  by  public  convenience  but  by  "paying"  capacity, 
bodies  of  quasi-public  employees  whose  wages,  hours,  and 
other  conditions  of  employment  were  liable  to  processes  of 
"  sweating,"  which  damaged  the  health  and  lowered  the  stand- 
ard of  life  of  a  considerable  section  of  the  working  classes. 

Did  the  Swiss  citizen  fold  his  hands  complacently  as  he 
surveyed  the  situation  and  say,  "Well,  perhaps  we  made  a 
mistake  in  handing  over  so  much  power  to  private  companies, 
but  after  all  they  exhibited  so  much  'enterprise'  in  developing 
these  undertakings  that  they  deserve  for  an  illimitable  future 
all  that  they  can  get;  if  they  press  hard  upon  us  we  must  bear 
it,  for  they  have  grown  so  big  and  strong  that  we  cannot  depose 
them;  besides  after  all  they  understand  the  business  and  we  do 
not,  so  we  had  better  keep  on  paying  them  what  they  ask  and 
taking  from  them  what  we  can  get;  it  is  better  worth  our  while 
to  do  this  than  to  undertake  the  peril  of  fighting  them,  and  the 
risk  of  entering  upon  new  public  functions  for  which  we  feel 
ourselves  unfitted?"  Or  did  he  break  this  fatalistic  apathy 
by  periodic  spasms  of  wild  but  impotent  fury  when  the  burden 


MUNICIPAL  OWNERSHIP  163 

galled  his  shoulders,  and  rally  groups  of  citizens,  who  distin- 
guished themselves  from  the  majority  by  calling  themselves 
"good,"  for  some  brief  assault  upon  some  single  fortress  of 
monopoly  which,  captured  for  a  while,  slid  back  into  the  pos- 
session of  the  enemy  when  the  popular  resentment  died 
down? 

The  recent  record  of  Swiss  municipal  history,  while  exhibiting 
no  fully  conscious  or  "theoretic"  policy  of  municipalisation, 
shows  a  plain  logical  development  of  civic  democracy.  The 
early,  difficult,  speculative,  experimental  stages  of  a  new  in- 
dustry, even  when  it  is  one  that  supplies  a  commodity  in  general 
demand,  is  often  wisely  left  to  private  enterprise;  when  it  has 
been  set  upon  a  safe  stable  footing,  the  experimental  stage 
passed,  and  the  routine  stage  reached,  the  time  has  come  for 
the  municipality  to  assume  for  itself  the  duty  it  had  previously 
delegated  to  others.  There  is  nothing  unreasonable  in  this. 
The  private  company  recoups  itself  by  high,  if  uncertain,  profits 
during  the  period  of  its  control,  and  commonly  obtains  ample 
compensation  for  its  dispossession;  the  municipality  which 
could  not  perhaps  have  exhibited  the  qualities  of  adventure 
and  resource  which  the  hope  of  profit  evoked  during  the  era 
of  development  is  fully  competent  to  conduct  with  economy 
and  efficiency  a  fairly  settled  business,  and  even  to  secure  for 
the  public  purse  some  share  of  the  more  modest  profits  that 
belong  to  a  routine  industry  which  is  not  based  on  the  com- 
petitive economy,  paying  all  employees  the  lowest  wage  they 
can  be  hired  for,  and  charging  the  public  the  highest  rates  they 
can  be  forced  to  pay. 

The  Swiss  citizen,  in  his  democratic  "cell,"  the  commune, 
has  everywhere  pushed  steadily  and  successfully  towards  the 
realisation  of  this  municipal  progressive  policy.  He  has  not 
been  a  plunger;  there  are  German  cities,  not  a  few,  where 
bureaucratic  socialism  has  gone  further.  The  Swiss  has  not 
been  an  indiscriminate  municipaliser,  as  in  his  state  and  his 


164  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

federal  policy  he  has  always  stopped  to  ask  "  whether  it  will 
pay";  he  is  not  bent  on  realising  some  vision  of  a  self-sufficing 
city,  but  he  is  willing  and  anxious  that  his  city  shall  take  over 
any  enterprise  which  it  can  conduct  cheaper,  or  better,  or 
more  safely,  than  it  has  been  conducted  in  private  hands. 

How  general,  persistent,  and  successful  has  been  the  pressure 
of  this  tendency  will  be  seen  from  the  following  short  record 
of  municipal  facts,  which  takes  in  order  the  chief  towns. 

Bale  took  over  in  1868  the  gas  works,  which,  originally 
built  by  the  city  in  1852,  had  been  leased  to  a  private  firm. 
In  1875  ^  to°k  over  tne  water  works  from  a  private  company. 
The  electric  works  erected  by  the  town,  and  supplying  not 
only  municipal  wants  but  industrial  power  to  private  businesses, 
were  erected  in  1899  and  have  been  operated  by  the  city.  Bale 
was  the  first  city,  in  1892,  to  undertake  the  building  and  working 
of  street  railways,  successfully  opposing  the  claim  of  a  private 
company;  in  1895  she  converted  them  into  an  electric  system, 
the  length  of  which  now  amounts  to  23,913  metres. 

Berne  was  the  first  Swiss  city  to  take  over,  in  1861,  the  gas 
supply;  in  1878  she  installed  her  municipal  water  supply  and 
in  1891  her  electric  supply.  In  1900  she  took  over  from  the 
company  which  had  worked  it  for  ten  years  the  street  railways 
system  which  she  has  since  electrified  and  enlarged  to  a  length 
of  11,188  m. 

Biel  has  possessed  her  water  and  gas  since  1880,  and  has 
just  erected  electric  supply  works,  arranging  also  to  take  over 
an  old  horse  tramway  with  the  purpose  of  electrifying  it. 

Geneva  has  owned  her  water  from  the  beginning,  her  gas 
and  electric  works  since  1896;  though  her  street  railways  still 
remain  in  the  hands  of  a  private  company  they  are  dependent 
for  "power"  upon  the  municipal  supply. 

Lausanne  is  less  advanced.  Only  in  1896  did  she  buy  back 
from  a  company  her  gas  works,  and  though  she  owns  her 
electric  supply  she  possesses  only  an  interest  in,  not  full  control 


MUNICIPAL  OWNERSHIP  165 

over,  her  electric  street  railways,  though  the  water  works  are 
now  publicly  owned  and  operated. 

Lucerne  is  a  well-developed  municipality.  In  1873  sne  m" 
stalled  her  water  works,  in  1894  acquired  her  gas  works,  in 
1897  set  up  an  electric  supply,  and  built  an  electric  street  railway 
system,  which  by  1899  reached  8527  m. 

Schaffhausen  acquired  its  water  works  from  a  company 
1883-4,  bought  back  its  gas  works  in  1897,  installed  its  electric 
supply  in  1896-8,  and  has  established  an  electric  street  railway 
system  amounting  in  1906  to  4135  m. 

Thun  has  its  water,  gas,  and  electricity,  Vevey  its  gas, 
electricity,  and  street  railways  (its  water,  formerly  owned  in 
common  with  seven  other  communes,  was  taken  over  in  1900). 

St.  Gall  has  its  water  since  1878,  its  gas  bought  back  in  1886, 
its  electric  supply  in  1896,  and  9292  m.  of  street  railways. 

Winterthur  acquired  its  control  of  water  in  1872,  and  bought 
back  from  a  company  in  the  same  year  its  gas;  its  street  rail- 
ways amounting  to  2044  m.  were  built  by  the  city  and  are 
worked  by  it  since  1898. 

Zurich  obtained  control  of  water.  1866  (extended  1885);  in 
1886  acquired  the  gas  works  which  since  1856  had  been  oper- 
ated by  a  company,  and  set  up  an  electric  supply  in  1890;  her 
street  railways  are  municipalised  to  the  extent  of  25,174  m., 
leaving  about  12,000  m.  still  in  the  hands  of  private  companies.1 

This  steady  drift  towards  increased  municipal  ownership 
does  not  attest  the  influence  of  theoretic  socialism.  Each  step 
is  taken  on  business  calculations,  and  the  spread  of  the  move- 
ment is  a  testimony  to  its  general  financial  success.  Since  a 
city  is  not,  like  a  private  company,  under  any  obligation  to 
make  a  profit  on  any  or  all  of  its  services,  and  may  prefer  in 
some  instances  to  sell  a  service  to  its  citizens  below  cost  price, 
we  cannot  measure  from  the  published  accounts  the  full  extent 

1  This  summary  has  reference  for  the  most  part  to  the  municipal  industries 
in  1902.     Since  then  municipalisation  has  made  further  conspicuous  advances. 


166  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

of  the  benefits  conferred,  except  by  a  comparison  of  profits 
and  prices  too  intricate  for  consideration  here. 

But  the  summary  given  in  the  Appendix  to  this  chapter  of 
the  chief  public  services  in  the  most  important  cities,  serves  to 
show  that  in  nearly  every  instance  civic  ownership  and  manage- 
ment does  in  fact  secure  a  net  profit,  after  paying  the  interest 
on  borrowed  capital  and  in  most  cases  a  contribution  towards 
a  sinking  fund.  In  comparing  such  results  with  experience  of 
municipal  or  private  enterprise  in  America  or  Great  Britain,  it 
must  be  remembered  that  hardly  one  of  these  cities  ranks  in 
population  even  with  the  second  grade  of  industrial  cities  in 
the  two  other  countries. 

This  progress  in  the  municipalisation  of  public  services  is 
conspicuous  in  the  large  attention  given  to  the  establishment 
of  electrical  supplies.  It  is  here  that  in  fact  the  Swiss  muni- 
cipal reformers  have  displayed  more  forethought  than  those 
responsible  for  the  similar  movement  in  Great  Britain.  This, 
no  doubt,  is  due  in  part  to  the  attention  paid  in  Switzerland  to 
water  power  as  the  possible  source  of  industrial  as  of  other 
energy  in  the  future.  Even  now  a  few  cities,  such  as  Geneva 
and  Bale,  depend  chiefly  or  partly  on  water  power  for  their 
electric  supplies.  If  the  future  enables  electricians  to  solve 
the  grave  problems  of  storage  and  distribution  which  at  present 
retard  the  full  utilisation  of  water  power  as  the  generating 
medium,  the  foresight  exhibited  by  these  cities  will  stand  them 
in  good  stead.  In  any  event  it  becomes  more  and  more  evident 
that  the  owners  of  the  most  effective  supplies  of  electric  energy, 
however  got,  are  likely  to  exercise  a  potent,  perhaps  a  despotic, 
control  over  the  industrial  future,  and  the  comparatively  ad- 
vanced policy  of  these  small  Swiss  municipalities  in  seizing 
the  reins  of  power  is  evidence  of  a  high  order  of  governmental 
capacity.  Nor  is  the  capacity  to  be  ascribed  entirely  or  chiefly 
to  the  skill  and  enlightenment  of  a  few  trained  bureaucrats,  as 
is  the  case  in  certain  German  cities.     For  here  the  policy  must 


MUNICIPAL  OWNERSHIP  167 

be  ascribed  in  the  last  resort  to  the  will  of  the  people  who 
have  endorsed  it.  For  though  in  certain  of  the  French  cantons 
there  is  set  up  in  the  larger  municipalities  an  intermediate 
authority  called  the  Conseil  Generale  or  Conseil  Communale, 
which  takes  over  from  the  body  of  the  people  that  elects  it 
many  important  prerogatives  of  government,  voting  the  annual 
budget,  supervising  the  administration  of  the  public  domain 
and  the  various  departments  of  government,  the  people  even 
here  retains  a  large  power  of  veto  in  addition  to  the  electoral 
rights.  In  the  Germanic  cantons,  where  most  of  the  large  and 
developed  municipalities  stand,  there  exists  no  such  barrier 
between  the  naked  will  of  the  people  and  the  administration. 
There  the  final  source  of  authority  is  the  popular  Assembly, 
which  elects  the  officials,  votes  the  taxes,  sanctions  new  enter- 
prises, and  supervises  its  administrative  agents.  The  powers 
thus  exercised  exceed  in  the  aggregate  those  of  an  American 
city,  for  local  autonomy  in  one  all  important  matter  is  larger. 
No  limitations  are  laid  by  the  state  upon  the  taxing  power  of 
a  city  for  improvements,  and  the  only  limitation  on  its  spending 
power  is  usually  contained  in  some  proviso  that  the  existing 
city  property  shall  not  be  sold  or  mortgaged  without  the  consent 
of  the  cantonal  government. 

The  large  liberty  thus  enjoyed  by  a  Swiss  municipality  has, 
of  course,  led  to  a  variety  of  experiments  in  municipal  enter- 
prise that  lie  outside  the  generally  accepted  limits  of  "  public 
services."  Alike  in  the  domains  of  education,  public  health, 
assistance  to  the  workers,  and  municipal  art  and  recreation, 
civic  activities  take  forms  unfamiliar  to  the  ordinary  American 
city.  Though  perhaps  there  is  little  in  the  educational  policy 
even  of  such  advanced  cities  as  Zurich,  Lausanne,  and  Geneva 
that  is  altogether  new,  the  Swiss  cities  have  carried  technical 
education  and  training  far  beyond  anything  in  America  or 
England.  The  country  is  now  full  of  primary  technical  schools, 
industrial  special  schools  (Fachschulen),  industrial   continua- 


168  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

tion  schools  (Gewerbliche  Fortbildungs-schulen),  artizan  schools 
(Handwerker-schulen),  and  industrial  schools  of  design  (Zeich- 
nungs-schulen).  The  Zurich  Polytechnic  stands  at  the  head 
of  a  number  of  similar  institutions,  communal  in  management, 
where  free  instruction  is  given.  Both  the  principles  and  the 
practice  of  art,  manufacture,  handicraft,  and  commerce  are 
taught  in  a  variety  of  carefully  graded  establishments,  where 
due  attention  is  paid  to  local  requirements,  while  professional 
and  domestic  training  are  provided  in  a  number  of  universities 
and  colleges.  Industrial  and  Commercial  Museums,  well- 
utilised  for  oral  demonstrations,  form  an  important  and  a 
growing  feature  in  the  technical  education  of  Swiss  cities. 

A  hardly  less  important  test  of  modern  civic  progress  is 
afforded  by  the  increased  hold  municipal  governments  are 
taking  upon  the  Housing  and  Land  questions,  upon  the  solution 
of  which  not  merely  the  health  but  the  liberty  of  a  city  so  much 
depends.  Gradually  in  all  civilised  communities  intelligent 
citizens  are  coming  more  and  more  to  recognise  the  danger  of 
leaving  the  building  and  the  renting  of  the  homes  of  the  people 
to  unchecked  private  enterprise  and  "free"  competition. 

Within  the  last  fifteen  years  many  Swiss  cities,  recognising 
the  social  evils  arising  from  over-crowding  and  excessive  rents, 
have  undertaken  to  provide  or  to  assist  in  providing  workmen's 
houses. 

Berne  was  the  first  to  enter  on  this  public  policy  in  1889, 
employing  her  borrowing  power  to  raise  capital  and  construct 
a  number  of  small  dwellings.  She  now  possesses  134  small 
houses  with  182  apartments.  Neufchatel  has  followed  in  her 
wake,  and  since  1893  nas  built  and  lets  61  apartments.  Since 
1897  Lausanne  has  been  negotiating  a  similar  project.  Zurich 
has  for  some  time  possessed  a  group  of  workmen's  dwellings 
and  is  planning  a  large  extension  of  the  system  in  various 
quarters  of  the  city.  Bale  is  developing  a  similar  project, 
having  acquired  since  1895  a  considerable  quantity  of  land 


MUNICIPAL  OWNERSHIP  169 

for  the  purpose.  The  city  of  Geneva,  co-operating  with  the 
canton,  has  secured  borrowing  powers  in  order  to  build  or  to 
give  subventions  to  building  companies. 

The  movement  is  at  present  in  its  experimental  stage,  but 
many  of  the  municipalities  possess  or  control  large  plots  of 
land  within  their  borders  or  upon  their  outskirts,  and  the  public 
ownership  of  houses  is  assuming  a  prominent  place  in  the 
progressive  programme. 

Nor  does  this  movement  content  itself  with  running  up  great 
tenements  in  which  the  individuality  of  the  home  is  lost.  The 
tenement  system  is  almost  everywhere  abandoned,  surviving 
to-day  only  in  Lausanne,  Geneva,  and  Vevey.  Everywhere 
else  it  is  the  small  house,  the  cottage  home,  which  the  munici- 
pality aims  to  erect. 

Communal  democracy,  though  often  irregular  and  always 
incomplete  in  its  working,  is  better  represented  to-day  in  Swiss 
towns  like  Zurich,  Bale,  Geneva  than  in  any  other  cities  of  the 
civilised  world.  A  child  born  in  one  of  these  cities  and  living 
there  throughout  his  life  as  a  worker  gets  a  greater  and  more 
valuable  number  of  supports  from  the  organised  self-help  of 
the  municipality  than  anywhere  else. 

From  infancy  his  physical  as  well  as  his  intellectual  welfare 
is  safeguarded  in  the  school,  where  medical  inspection  and  full 
provision  for  physical  defects  are  part  of  the  educational  system. 

The  discovery  and  training  of  special  aptitudes,  so  as  to  open 
up  the  best  opportunities  of  work  and  livelihood,  are  recognised 
as  civic  obligations.  A  network  of  technical  and  culture  schools 
are  designed  at  once  to  improve  the  efficiency  of  the  workman 
and  to  develop  his  general  intelligence.  The  quantity  of 
municipal  employment  under  relatively  good  conditions  of 
employment  is  continually  growing  and  affords  an  increasing 
chance  of  stable  and  fairly  remunerative  employment.  Against 
the  disorder  and  mishaps  of  industrial  life  under  private  em- 
ployment, the  public  machinery  of  labour  bureaus,  insurance 


i7o  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

and  labour  homes  makes  considerable  if  not  adequate  provision 
for  the  poorer  workman,  while  for  the  aged  or  the  invalid  a 
comfortable  public  refuge  without  degradation  is  furnished,  with 
a  free  burial  that  carries  none  of  the  stigma  of  pauperism  but 
is  a  common  civic  right.  The  ample  conception  of  public 
education  and  enjoyment  places  good  books,  and  lectures, 
pictures,  music  and  the  drama,  within  the  reach  of  every  ordi- 
nary citizen  by  means  of  municipal  services  which  are  rendered 
free  or  cheap  by  public  subsidies. 


MUNICIPAL  OWNERSHIP 


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CHAPTER  XH 


THE  CO-OPERATIVE  MOVEMENT 


There  are  those  who  hold  as  a  self-evident  proposition  that 
state  activity  paralyses  individual  initiative/  regardless  of  the 
fact  that  everything  depends  upon  the  nature'  of  the  state. 
Where  governmental  power  is  exercised  by  an  aristocracy,  by  a 
bureaucratic  caste,  or  any  substantially  non- representative  body, 
or  even  by  a  representative  assembly  unchecked  and  uninspired 
by  close  contact  with  the  feelings  and  the  judgment  of  the 
people,  the  state  does  in  fact  become  a  thing  apart  from  the 
people,  a  Providence  or  Destiny  imposing  upon  the  people 
a  will  not  consciously  recognised  as  theirs.  Wherever  and 
in  so  far  as  this  real  and  conscious  separation  between  the 
state  and  the  people  exists,  the  growing  power  of  the  state 
and  the  increase  of  its  functions  are  an  actual  danger  to  the 
free  individual  and  co-operative  life  of  the  people,  who,  becom- 
ing accustomed  to  a  state  that  does  things  for  them,  lose  the 
capacity  to  do  things  for  themselves.  But  when  the  people 
is  and  feels  itself  to  be  the  state,  wThen  the  part  it  plays  in 
governmental  work  is  so  constant,  so  various,  and  so  impor- 
tant as  to  maintain  the  consciousness  of  democracy,  no  such 
antagonism  between  state  and  private  activity  exists:  govern- 
ment is  simply  that  form  of  social  self-expression  which  the 
will  of  the  community  finds  it  most  convenient  to  adopt  for 
certain  purposes,  other  social  work  being  left  to  looser  forms 
of  voluntary  co-operation. 

The  Swiss  citizen  is  not  less  apt,  but  more  apt  for  every  sort 
of  private  co-operative  effort,  because  he  is  accustomed  to 

i74 


THE  CO-OPERATIVE   MOVEMENT  175 

express  his  will  on  many  matters  through  the  commune,  the 
canton,  and  the  Confederation. 

As  the  machinery  of  the  state  has  been  more  fully  developed 
upon  democratic  lines  during  recent  years,  private  initiative 
and  the  spirit  of  voluntary  combination  have  thriven  marvel- 
lously. Perhaps  the  most  instructive  illustration  of  this  spirit 
is  given  in  the  spread  of  the  consumers'  co-operative  societies 
through  the  towns  and  villages  of  Switzerland.  Some  stray 
seed  of  the  early  English  co-operative  movement  of  the  forties 
had  found  their  way  to  Switzerland,  but  lay  dormant  for  half 
a  century,  the  simpler  conditions  of  Swiss  life  and  the  absence 
of  a  large  town  proletariat  being  unfavourable  to  the  growth. 
With  the  increasing  industrialisation  of  large  sections  of  the 
population,  and  improved  communications  between  the  towns 
and  villages,  the  organisation  of  the  consumer  has  taken  shape 
in  the  establishment  of  co-operative  stores  that  already  play 
a  very  important  part  in  the  life  of  the  people,  especially  in 
the  German  cantons. 

The  size  and  extraordinary  recent  rapidity  of  growth  in 
this  species  of  co-operation  may  best  be  placed  in  evidence 
by  the  following  official  record,  dealing  with  those  societies, 
(comprising  the  great  majority  of  the  whole  number),  which 
belong  to  the  co-operative  union  (Verbunds-Verein). 


176 


A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 


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THE  CO-OPERATIVE  MOVEMENT  177 

Previously  confined  to  the  towns  and  certain  rural 
districts  of  the  German  cantons  stretching  from  the  Lake 
of  Constance  to  the  Lake  of  Geneva,  during  the  last  eight 
years  the  movement  has  spread  so  rapidly  into  other  parts  of 
Switzerland  that  now  there  is  no  single  canton  without  its 
Konsum-Verein  or  co-operative  store.  During  these  eight 
years  our  table  shows  that  the  number  of  societies  is 
nearly  trebled  and  the  number  of  members  nearly  quadru- 
pled, while  turnover,  profits,  and  dividend  on  purchases 
have  grown  very  fast,  though  naturally  the  growth  of  these 
items  is  not  so  rapid  as  the  movement  spreads  into  the 
poorer  districts. 

The  position  already  achieved  is  one  of  great  strength,  for 
if  we  compare  the  number  of  co-operative  members,  already 
exceeding  140,000,  with  the  total  population  of  this  little  coun- 
try, a  little  over  three  millions  and  a  quarter,  and  remember 
that  each  member  represents  a  family,  we  shall  come  to  the 
conclusion  that  the  co-operative  movement  already  embraces 
about  one  fifth  of  the  nation. 

In  the  few  industrial  cities  of  considerable  size,  especially 
in  Bale,  Zurich,  and  Berne,  the  co-operative  stores  are  a  domi- 
nant factor  in  local  commerce.  Bale,  indeed,  may  dispute 
with  Oldham  or  Rochdale  the  claim  to  be  the  most  co-operative 
city  in  the  world,  for  its  societies  possess  no  less  than  27,000 
members  out  of  a  total  population  of  116,000.  Allowing  for 
the  probability  that  four  members  out  of  five  are  heads  of  a 
family,  we  may  conclude  that  about  nine  tenths  of  the  popula- 
tion deals  more  or  less  with  the  co-operative  stores.  The 
great  pillar  of  the  movement  here  as  elsewhere  is  the  grocery 
store,  sugar,  coffee,  cocoa,  soap,  and  oil  figuring  amongst  the 
largest  items  of  purchase.  A  considerable  sale,  however,  of 
cheap  wines,  tobacco,  and  coal  takes  place,  while  in  Bale  and 
in  one  or  two  other  large  centres  butchers'  meat  figures  largely 
in  the  local  sales.     Besides  a  large  and  admirably  equipped 


178  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

central  store  for  the  preparation  of  meat  there  are  no  fewer 
than  twenty  branches  for  the  retail  distribution  of  meat  in 
Bale.  In  clothing  the  stores  chiefly  confine  themselves  to 
boots  and  shoes  and  to  woollens,  though  a  considerable  variety 
of  other  goods  are  also  sold. 

The  co-operative  union  with  its  headquarters  at  Bale  also 
serves  the  purpose  of  a  wholesale  society,  buying  in  the  whole- 
sale markets  large  quantities  of  staple  goods,  testing  and  grad- 
ing them,  and  serving  them  out  at  cost  price  to  meet  the 
demands  of  the  retail  stores  or  of  their  individual  members. 
The  wholesale  society,  however,  is  far  from  being  a  mere 
machine  for  distribution :  in  its  capacity  as  the  central  organ  of 
the  movement  it  performs  extremely  important  educational,  ad- 
visory, and  developmental  work.  Under  a  skilled  and  highly 
trained  economist,  Dr.  Hans  Muller,  it  has  undertaken  these 
organising  and  directing  functions  with  a  remarkable  success. 
Distribution  in  the  eyes  of  the  Swiss  co-operators  is  to  be  taken 
out  of  the  region  of  profit-making  business  and  to  be  treated 
as  a  scientific  problem,  viz.,  how  to  supply  individual  consumers 
with  sound  and  well-made  goods  at  prices  which  eliminate 
distributors'  profits  and  merely  add  to  the  cost  of  growing  or 
manufacture  the  minimum  cost  of  the  necessary  processes 
of  distribution.  Nowhere  else,  not  in  the  cradle  of  co-opera- 
tive Lancashire  itself,  has  this  central  work  of  organisation 
been  so  thoroughly  planned  and  executed.  In  the  well-equipped 
chemical  laboratory  at  Bale  all  sorts  of  foods  are  submitted 
to  scientific  analysis,  and  the  elaborately  ordered  show-room 
is  designed  not  to  entice  buyers,  but  to  serve  as  a  medium  of 
instruction  to  the  salesmen  of  the  local  stores  who  visit  it  to 
learn  the  nature  of  the  goods  they  handle.  The  bookkeeping 
and  statistical  departments  not  merely  place  the  central  office 
in  touch  with  all  the  branches,  but  contain  a  dossier  of  every 
member  of  the  local  branches,  while  the  library  is  a  com- 
pendium of  the  co-operative  movement  throughout  the  world, 


THE  CO-OPERATIVE  MOVEMENT  179 

containing  the  permanent  and  current  literature  of  co-operation 
in  every  language. 

The  movement  is  almost  entirely  a  consumers'  movement. 
The  wholesale,  unlike  the  English  and  Scotch  wholesales, 
makes  no  attempt  to  establish  productive  works  even  for  such 
routine  articles  as  shoes  or  cloth.  Although  for  a  long  time 
past  there  have  existed  independent  sporadic  experiments  in 
productive  co-operation,  based  on  the  principle  of  a  group  of 
workers  owning  and  managing  a  business  for  their  own  profit, 
this  branch  of  co-operation  has  never  really  thriven.  At  pres- 
ent probably  not  more  than  a  dozen  productive  co-operative 
societies  exist,  and  most  of  these  do  not  fulfil  the  co-operative 
ideal,  since  either  they  are  dependent  for  the  capital  they  use 
upon  outside  business  men  to  whom  interest  must  be  paid, 
or  else  they  are  themselves  little  capitalist  companies  employ- 
ing workers  who  are  mere  wage-earners  and  not  full  co-operators. 

Though  in  earlier  years  the  Swiss  distributive  co-operators 
sometimes  dallied  with  the  so-called  profit-sharing  idea  by 
which  the  employee  receives  a  portion  of  the  gain  of  co-opera- 
tion in  addition  to  his  wages,  the  successful  and  growing  move- 
ment of  to-day  is  rigidly  fixed  upon  what  is  known  as  the 
" Rochdale  plan,"  which  eliminates  the  trader's  profit  by  serv- 
ing out  commodities  at  "cost"  price.  There  is,  however, 
one  interesting  difference  between  the  Swiss  and  the  British 
method  of  interpreting  this  idea,  a  difference  not  of  economic 
principle,  but  of  method.  The  prevailing  idea  in  Great  Brit- 
ain is  to  sell  goods  to  the  co-operative  member  at  ordinary 
market  prices,  giving  back  to  him  in  dividends  on  purchases 
the  portion  of  the  price  which  represents  trader's  profit,  and 
which  it  is  the  object  of  co-operation  to  "save"  for  the  benefit 
of  members.  The  test  of  a  successful  store  is  commonly  taken 
to  consist  of  the  amount  of  its  half-yearly  dividend,  and  the 
belittlers  of  the  co-operative  movement  represent  its  adherents 
as  mere  "divi"  hunters.    Now  the  Swiss  movement,  though 


180  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

also  concerned  with  dividends,  is  less  exclusively  attached  to 
them,  and  generally  puts  a  maximum  limit  of  some  eight  per 
cent  upon  this  payment.  Part  of  the  benefit  is  given  in  prices 
listed  below  those  prevailing  in  the  outside  retail  market. 
How  much  of  the  benefit  shall  take  this  shape  varies  with  the 
policy  of  the  different  societies,  but  as  a  rule  bread,  meat, 
sugar,  and  other  prime  necessaries  are  sold  at  very  little  over 
cost  price,  the  " dividend"  being  got  out  of  the  sale  of  wine, 
tobacco,  and  luxuries,  which  are  sold  at  prices  little,  if  any- 
thing, below  that  of  the  outside  retail  trade. 

In  other  words,  the  policy  is  primarily  directed  to  secure 
the  cheap  sale  of  wholesome  articles  of  necessity  or  convenience 
of  life. 

As  in  most  countries  this  movement  sprang  up  first  in  a 
scattering  of  little  stores  among  the  towns  and  villages,  buying 
their  goods  in  the  ordinary  wholesale  markets.  The  co-oper- 
ative wholesale  is  a  recent  development  and  has  greatly  strength- 
ened the  movement.  The  retail  stores  are  in  no  wise  "tied" 
to  the  wholesale;  the  latter  has  to  show  them  that  it  can  sell 
better  or  cheaper  goods  to  get  their  custom.  But  in  point 
of  fact  each  year  shows  the  retail  stores  taking  a  larger  pro- 
portion of  their  goods  from  the  wholesale.  This  is  only  natural, 
seeing  that  the  latter  makes  no  profit  on  its  sales,  but  sells 
to  the  retail  stores  at  cost,  plus  a  small  surplus  which  is  put 
aside  to  build  up  a  heavy  reserve  fund,  so  as  to  enable  the 
wholesale  to  expand  its  business  and  to  perform  the  educa- 
tional and  other  propaganda  work  which  falls  within  its  recog- 
nised functions. 

One  special  feature  of  Swiss  co-operation  deserves  mention, 
viz.,  the  growth  of  a  number  of  rural  societies  for  the  purchase 
of  manures,  machines,  and  other  farming  appliances  which 
are  got  through  the  wholesale.  This  work  is  especially  adapted 
to  the  needs  of  a  people  who,  notwithstanding  the  recent  in- 
dustrial trend,  remains  in  large  degree  a  nation  of  peasants. 


THE  CO-OPERATIVE  MOVEMENT  181 

The  educational  work  of  the  movement  is  carried  on  partly 
by  lectures  and  conferences,  but  principally  by  means  of  a 
powerful  and  ably-written  press.  There  are  four  regular 
publications  of  the  movement,  two  of  which,  issued  from 
the  central  organisation  at  Bale,  have  great  influence,  one,  the 
Schweizerische  Konsum  Verein,  circulating  chiefly  among  the 
store-keepers  and  committee-men  in  the  various  local  centres, 
the  other,  Genossenschaftliches  Volksblatt,  addressed  to  the 
rank  and  file  of  the  members,  and  having  a  circulation  of 
some  70,000  per  week. 

There  can  be  no  question  that  the  co-operative  movement 
is  not  only  doing  valuable  economic  service  to  its  many  thou- 
sands of  members,  but  is  helping  to  build  up  sympathy  and 
solidarity  among  the  different  races  composing  the  Swiss 
populations,  and  is  thus  feeding  in  a  very  practical  way  the 
sense  of  national  democracy. 

Hitherto,  like  the  English  and  unlike  the  Belgian  co-opera- 
tor, the  Swiss  have  kept  their  movement  outside  party  politics, 
refusing  in  any  way  to  identify  co-operation  with  the  socialistic 
or  labour  organisations  which  are  making  their  impress  alike 
upon  municipal,  cantonal,  and  federal  politics. 

But  on  certain  political  issues  directly  affecting  the  success 
of  their  work  they  take  a  lively  and  determined  action.  Con- 
cerned primarily  with  the  interests  of  consumers,  they  neces- 
sarily favour  free  trade  or  low  tariff,  especially  with  relation 
to  Germany  and  France,  two  nations  upon  which  they  are 
dependent  for  a  large  proportion  of  their  manufactured  goods 
and  for  the  whole  of  their  coal  fuel. 

Strong  political  activity  has  also  been  directed  to  obtain  for 
them  a  remission  of  the  heavy  taxation  imposed  upon  them 
as  commercial  undertakings,  which  in  certain  cantons  is  a 
crushing  burden  on  their  stores.  This  claim  for  exemption 
of  taxation  on  the  ground  that  they  are  not  commercial  com- 
panies earning  profits  is  of  course  bitterly  contested  by  the 


182  A   SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

associations  of  ordinary  traders,  and  has  not  yet  been  suc- 
cessfully established   anywhere. 

So  likewise  any  special  legislation  affecting  the  price  or  limit- 
ing the  supply  of  foods  brings  the  co-operators  on  to  the  field 
of  politics.  In  this  capacity  of  defenders  of  cheap  food  they 
have  taken  an  energetic  part  in  fighting  the  law  for  the  in- 
spection and  restriction  of  imported  meat  which,  under  the 
cloak  of  hygiene,  the  Swiss  farming  interests  have  been  pro- 
moting with  the  object  of  enhancing  the  price  of  domestic 
cattle. 

In  the  co-operative  movement,  as  in  other  movements,  the 
Swiss  intelligence  is  alive  to  the  importance  of  internationalism, 
and  since  1897  nas  sent  its  representatives  to  the  National 
Co-operative  Congresses  of  other  states.  Its  officers  took  an 
active  part  in  the  International  Co-operative  Congress  held 
in  1905  at  Buda  Pesth,  and  a  number  of  the  stronger  Swiss 
societies  have  pledged  themselves  to  contribute  towards  a 
fund  designed  to  secure  a  permanent  basis  for  the  international 
organisation. 


CHAPTER  XIII 


SWISS  SOCIALISM 


The  picture  presented  here  of  a  real  democracy,  a  people 
deciding  for  themselves  the  important  issues  of  their  common 
life,  ascribing  to  themselves  in  their  communes,  their  cantons, 
their  Confederation,  the  full  ordering  of  those  matters  which 
most  naturally  fall  within  these  respective  areas  of  activity, 
working  out  by  peaceful  evolutionary  methods,  after  mature 
discussion  and  deliberation,  those  new  governmental  organs 
and  functions  required  for  the  changing  conditions  of  modern 
industrial  civilisation,  conjoining  the  maximum  of  effective 
state  co-operation  with  the  minimum  interference  with  indi- 
vidual liberty,  —  such  a  picture  may  well  seem  "too  good  to 
be  true."  And  to  some  extent  it  is  too  good.  There  are  two 
classes  of  critical  idealists  in  Switzerland  who  agree  in  certain 
disparaging  judgments  upon  the  achievements  and  present 
tendencies  of  political  and  social  life  in  the  Confederation. 
Cultured  academic  reformers,  in  their  moments  of  impatience 
with  the  tardy  compromising  ways  in  which  "the  people" 
walks,  are  apt  to  agree  with  the  out-and-out  socialists  in  re- 
garding Switzerland  as  "  a  bourgeois  democracy."  Some  notion 
of  what  is  meant  by  this  phrase  will  have  been  conveyed  to 
readers  who  have  followed  the  story  of  railroad  nationalisation 
or  the  alcohol  monopoly.  They  will  remember  that  in  neither 
instance  could  a  single  regard  for  principle  or  public  welfare 
be  considered  as  the  determinant  motive  for  the  measure.  In 
each  case  public  intelligence  and  virtue  have  to  be  supported 
by  carefully  devised  appeals  to  local  and  industrial  interests; 

183 


184  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

the  cantonal  jealousy  of  the  central  government  had  to  be 
appeased  by  special  concessions;  and  vested  interests  had  to 
receive  careful  consideration.  In  a  word,  the  car  of  progress 
could  not  be  run  along  a  smooth  track  of  logic  and  justice, 
but  was  forced  to  move  slowly  and  with  difficulty  along  the 
somewhat  crooked  and  jolting  journey  towards  a  legislative 
goal  over  which  "Compromise"  was  written  in  large  letters. 
Whether  the  question  be  of  tariff  or  taxation,  factory  legisla- 
tion or  of  banking  and  insurance,  organised  and  industrial 
interests  exercise  considerable  "pull"  upon  processes  of  legis- 
lation, though  this  is  no  evidence  of  the  existence  of  the  coarser 
methods  of  corruption  practised  in  many  nations.  Special 
local  and  industrial  interests  sometimes  co-operate,  sometimes 
cross,  in  the  conflict  of  public  opinion  which  eventually  takes 
shape  in  acts  of  government.  French  and  German,  Catholic 
and  Protestant,  townsman  and  countryman,  men  of  the  moun- 
tains and  of  the  plains,  exhibit  manifold  divergencies  of  feeling 
and  of  interest  which  politicians  have  to  manage.  In  such 
processes  a  selection  takes  place  which  seems  to  give  a  dis- 
proportionate power  to  certain  types  of  Swiss.  The  results 
of  the  referendums  show  that  in  general  the  Germans  have 
made  both  the  direction  and  the  pace  of  recent  movements, 
especially  towards  centralisation  and  the  increased  functions 
of  the  Bund,  the  French  cantons  remaining  more  conservative 
and  more  confined  in  thought  and  feeling  within  their  several 
cantons.  In  particular  the  Bernois  is  generally  cited  as  a 
domineering  and  persistent  man,  of  strong  practical  and  man- 
aging capacity,  who  gets  his  way,  and,  using  his  local  advan- 
tage in  possessing  the  seat  of  federal  government,  tends  to 
exploit  the  rest  of  Switzerland  for  Bernese  purposes.  This 
language  one  hears  everywhere  in  Switzerland,  and  though 
the  charges  of  Bernese  exploitation  are  generally  couched  in 
vague  terms  without  explicit  evidence  of  injury  done  to  other 
cantons,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  Bernese  statesmen  and 


SWISS  SOCIALISM  185 

the  public  opinions  of  the  Bernese  people  have  played  a  rather 
dominant  part  in  federal  affairs  ever  since  the  Federal  Act  of 
1874. 

When  it  is  said  that  Switzerland  is  "  a  bourgeois  democracy," 
the  energetic  Bernese  tradesman  is  taken  as  the  typical  politi- 
cian, and  his  aims  are  commonly  regarded  as  business  aims, 
to  improve  such  public  services  as  are  beneficial  to  industry 
and  commerce  regarded  from  the  "  undertaker's "  point  of 
view,  to  keep  down  taxation,  to  practise  economy,  and  to  util- 
ise a  tariff  and  commercial  treaties  for  the  protection  and  en- 
largement of  Swiss  industries. 

But,  especially  from  the  standpoint  of  the  socialist  or  labour 
man,  a  wider  significance  must  be  given  to  " bourgeois"  than 
that  which  identifies  him  with  the  manufacturer  or  tradesmen 
of  the  "burg." 

7  Switzerland  remains,  as  we  have  seen,  in  large  measure  a 
peasant  nation.  Now  the  Swiss  peasant  is  himself  in  his  way 
"petit  bourgeois";  many  of  the  small  holders  are  men  of 
substance,  having  besides  their  private  property  a  share  in 
the  common  property  of  their  village,  or  at  least  some  claim 
to  support  which  gives  them  an  economic  status  very  distinct 
from  that  of  the  mere  proletarian,  the  landless  labourer  who 
must  live  exclusively  by  the  continuous  sale  of  his  labour  power. 
Now  the  politics  of  the  bourgeois  farmer  are  simple  and  con- 
sistent, viz.,  to  obtain  high  prices  and  large  demand  for  the 
sorts  of  agricultural  produce  his  land  is  capable  of  raising,  and 
to  enhance  the  value  of  his  land,  so  that,  when  he  wishes  to  sell 
and  to  become  a  little  "rentier,"  he  may  do  so  with  advantage. 
/The  peasant  probably  ranks  as  a  more  potent  political  factor 
in  Switzerland  than  in  any  other  advanced  country.  In  most 
modern  states  the  concentration  of  population  in  the  towns, 
and  the  superior  political  organisation  of  the  industrial  and 
commercial  interests  of  the  towns,  have  enabled  the  latter  to 
exert  a  predominant  control  over  politics  even  in  countries 


186  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

where  the  rural  population  possesses  a  share  of  representation 
in  excess  of  what  its  numbers  entitle  it  to  possess.  Now  in 
Switzerland,  not  merely  is  it  the  case  that  the  drift  of  population 
to  the  towns,  though  considerable,  is  less  rapid  than  elsewhere, 
but  the  capacity  of  the  peasants  to  exercise  an  influence  upon 
politics  has  been  very  remarkable.  Whereas  the  Swiss  indus- 
trial cities  are  very  cosmopolitan,,  and  the  flow  of  foreigners 
renders  political  organisation  somewhat  difficult,  the  stability 
and  solidarity  of  the  peasant  class,  inheriting  traditions  of 
corporate  action  and  strong  persistent  views  of  peasant  policy, 
have  given  them  a  great  power  in  moulding  policy.  Here 
again  the  referendum  and  " direct"  democracy  have  contrib- 
uted. It  is  no  use  for  any  group  of  astute  politicians  or  busi- 
ness men  to  "run  through"  some  measure  for  the  exclusive 
advantage  of  the  cities  and  their  business  interests:  such  a 
measure  has  to  go  to  the  great  rural  population  for  endorse- 
ment; here  every  vote  counts,  and  every  rural  voter  scrutinises 
with  a  jealous  eye  any  measure  involving  some  expense  or  dis- 
turbance of  business  in  which  it  is  not  clear  how  he  himself 
"  comes  in."  It  is  not  enough  that  a  proposal  should  be  innocu- 
ous; the  peasants  are  commonly  averse  to  innovation;  a  certain 
leaven  of  positive  conservatism,  latent  in  their  "  philosophy  of 
life,"  has  to  be  overcome.  This  is  why  almost  every  piece  of 
advanced  central  legislation  is  found  to  contain  some  protect- 
ive or  other  financial  sop  for  the  farmer.  Nor  is  it  mere  blind 
individual  instinct  of  self-interest  that  exerts  this  influence. 
The  organisation  of  the  peasants  is  hardly  less  remarkable 
than  that  of  the  co-operative  consumers  or  the  trade  unions 
in  the  developed  town  industries.  The  Farmers'  Federation 
(Schweizerischer  Bauer- Verband)  is  an  extremely  well-organised 
and  powerful  combination,  with  a  policy  the  first  plank  in 
which  is  agricultural  protection,  and  exercising  a  voting  power 
estimated  by  competent  judges  to  amount  to  250,000  votes 
on   any   issue   of   recognised   importance.     In   several   recent 


SWISS  SOCIALISM  187 

political  conflicts,  where  the  interest  of  country  versus  town, 
agricultural  producer  versus  industrial  consumer,  has  been  in 
question,  the  Farmers'  Federation  has  won  important  victories. 
The  popular  acceptance  of  the  Tariff  Law  of  1902,  giving 
increased  protection  to  Swiss  agriculture,  and  the  adoption  of  the 
much-debated  Food  Inspection  Bill  of  1906,  were  primarily  due 
to  the  education  and  organisation  of  this  powerful  federation. 

There  can  be  no  question  but  that  the  "business"  man  and 
the  peasant  proprietor  have  hitherto  been  the  principal  deter- 
minant forces  in  Swiss  politics,  and  the  careful  and  calculating 
character  even  of  their  most  " radical"  measures  attests  the 
importance  of  this  influence. 

How  far  will  time  and  the  growing  industrialisation  of  Swit- 
zerland overthrow  or  diminish  this  "bourgeois"  predominance? 
This  interesting  question  is  best  approached  by  a  consideration 
of  the  character  which  the  proletarian  revolt  of  the  working 
classes  under  the  title  of  "Socialism  "has  assumed  in  Switzerland. 

The  Grutli-Verein,  to-day  the  chief  socialistic  organisation 
in  Switzerland,  has  a  long  and  interesting  history  behind  it. 
It  came  into  being  in  the  late  thirties,  when  the  forces  were 
gathering  in  all  mid- European  countries  towards  the  revolution 
which  culminated  in  1848.  Its  origin  and  early  purpose, 
however,  were  not  definitely  political,  but  educational  and  social, 
seeking  "free  mutual  exchange  of  ideas,  enlightenment,  and 
instruction  in  general,  and  especially  in  national  affairs."  Its 
founders,  chief  amongst  whom  was  Dr.  Johann  Niederer,  a 
clergyman  and  a  friend  of  Pestalozzi,  and  Albert  Galeer,  a 
Geneva  professor  and  its  first  president,  called  themselves 
Grutlianer,  because  in  Niederer's  words,  "I  foresee  that  from 
this  fraternal  union  of  Swiss,  without  distinction  of  cantons, 
some  grand  results  may  one  day  spring,  as  once  our  free  Switzer- 
land from  the  GrUtli."  1 

1  The  famous  meeting  place  of  the  representatives  of  the  Forest  Cantons  in 
1307  was  Rutli. 


188  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

After  the  war  of  the  Sonderbund  and  the  closer  Federal 
Constitution  of  1848,  the  Grtitli-Verein,  whose  branches  already 
spread  through  the  chief  towns,  began  to  drift  more  towards 
political  instruction  and  agitation,  though  still  on  an  intellectual 
rather  than  a  closely  practical  level.  In  1849  its  new  statutes 
contained  the  statement,  "The  Griitli-Verein  seeks  in  word  and 
deed  to  support  the  free-thought  movement  in  the  father- 
land." 

It  ranked  in  the  early  fifties  as  a  free  radical  organisation 
with  a  definite  bent  towards  "social"  legislation  in  favour  of 
the  poorer  classes  of  workers,  one  of  its  earliest  efforts  being  a 
petition  for  a  national  grant  of  money  to  assist  workingmen 
travelling  in  search  of  employment. 

The  international  labour  movement  of  the  second  half  of 
the  sixties,  with  its  definitely  socialistic  teaching  of  Marx  and 
Engels,  and  its  trumpet-call,  "Proletarians  of  all  nations  unite!" 
made,  however,  no  great  impression  in  Switzerland,  which  at 
that  time  possessed  no  large  "proletariat."  The  attitude  of 
the  Griitli-Verein  towards  the  famous  "International"  was  one 
of  benevolent  neutrality.  It  had  not  yet  come  to  realise  its 
main  function  as  being  to  fight  capitalism  by  means  of  a  state 
democracy.  To  many  of  its  members  the  emancipation  of  the 
workers  lay  through  non-political  co-operation,  and  the  Griitli- 
Verein  threw  its  energies  into  various  projects  of  self-help. 
Co-operative  Stores  at  Zurich  and  elsewhere  owed  much  to 
its  efforts,  and  cheap  eating  houses,  savings  banks,  and  sick 
benefit  societies  were  promoted  by  its  branches. 

In  1873  two  new  associations  came  into  existence,  one  the 
People's  Association  (Volksverein),  aiming  at  a  democratic 
revision  of  the  Federal  Constitution,  the  other  a  Workers' 
Federation  (Arbeiterbund)  whose  object  was  defined  as  being 
"the  union  of  all  labour  societies  in  a  federation  with  a  view 
to  an  agreement  upon  means  for  the  improvement  of  the  worker's 
lot  as  a  provisional  measure,  but  ultimately  for  securing  to  them, 


SWISS  SOCIALISM  189 

instead  of  wages,  the  full  produce  of  their  labour,  by  means  of 
productive  associations,  and  thus  for  the  abolition  of  all  class- 
domination." 

The  Grutli-Verein  allied  itself  with  both  these  movements 
and  took  an  active  part  in  the  demand  for  the  revision  of  the 
Federal  Constitution  in  1874.  On  socialism,  in  the  shape  of 
the  new  German  propaganda,  the  society  was  divided,  as  indeed 
was  every  great  radical  organisation.  But  the  socialistic  faction 
soon  gained  the  upper  hand,  as  was  indicated  by  the  almost 
unanimous  support  given  in  1874  to  the  proposal  of  a  legal  ten 
hours'  working  day.  From  this  time  the  trend  of  the  move- 
ment was  steadily  in  the  direction  of  social  democracy.  The 
revision  of  its  programme,  in  1874,  laid  down  as  its  definite 
aims  the  development  of  political  and  social  progress  in  Switzer- 
land and  "the  promotion  of  the  national  consciousness  on  the 
basis  of  free-thinking  democracy."  These  general  phrases, 
however,  found  more  distinct  expression  in  1878,  when  the 
Grutli-Verein  gave  its  adhesion  to  the  Congress  held  at  Lucerne 
to  the  following  "principles"  of  the  "Social- Democratic 
Programme." 

"  I.  The  social-democratic  party  in  Switzerland  works 
for  the  maintenance  and  furtherance  of  the  interests  of 
the  working  people  in  every  relation.  It  recognises  that 
the  liberation  of  the  working  classes  must  be  achieved  by  the 
workers  themselves. 

II.  The  struggle  for  the  liberation  of  the  working  class  is  no 
struggle  for  the  predominance  of  a  caste,  but  for  equal  rights 
and  equal  duties  and  for  the  abolition  of  class  supremacy. 

III.  The  economic  dependence  of  the  worker  on  the  capital- 
ist forms  the  chief  basis  of  class  supremacy,  and  therefore  the 
social-democratic  party  aims  at  the  supercession  of  the  existing 
productive  system  (wage  system)  by  co-operative  labour." 

It  will  be  observed  that  there  is  in  this  statement  of  "social 
democracy"  no  allusion  to  state  socialism  or  the  use  of  political 


i9o  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

machinery;  its  prophets  still  appear  to  have  looked  to  private 
methods  of  co-operative  labour  for  the  salvation  of  the 
workers. 

But  this  did  not  prevent  them  from  lending  powerful  aid  to 
the  new  factory  legislation  which  was  being  pressed  upon  the 
federal  government,  and  from  offering  a  hearty  support  to 
the  working  class  demands  for  a  ten-hour  day,  the  prohibition 
of  the  labour  of  children  under  fifteen  years,  and  the  limitation 
of  women's  labour  to  eight  hours. 

From  that  time  onward,  both  in  federal  and  cantonal  pol- 
itics, the  Griitli-Verein  has  worked  steadily  and  persistently 
for  almost  every  one  of  the  causes  of  democratic  organisation 
and  state  socialism  which  have  come  up  for  settlement.  The 
federal  subvention  of  popular  schools,  the  bank-note  monopoly 
and  the  federal  bank,  the  popular  initiative  for  partial  revision 
of  the  Constitution,  the  right  to  labour,  the  alcohol  monopoly, 
the  match  monopoly,  the  nationalisation  of  railroads,  reformed 
factory  legislation,  —  on  these  and  other  issues  the  Grtitlianer 
have  voted  and  worked  for  social  progress. 

They  have  taken  an  active  part  in  promoting  the  public 
insurance  policy,  which  still  remains  undecided,  and  in  urging 
the  cause  of  international  agreement  on  labour  legislation. 

In  canton  and  commune  the  Griitli-Verein  have  cordially 
co-operated  with  the  other  working  class  and  democratic 
organisations. 

"Juster  taxation  laws  relieving  the  economically  weak  and 
placing  the  burden  more  upon  the  strong,  the  establishment  of 
people's  schools,  the  extension  of  technical  and  domestic  in- 
struction, the  gratuitous  provision  of  school  apparatus,  free 
burial,  promotion  of  the  care  of  public  health,  improvement  of 
housing,  bank  and  loan  reforms  favourable  to  small  peasants 
and  traders,  public  labour-information  offices,  statistical  bu- 
reaus, trade  arbitration  courts,  cantonal  labour  legislation  and 
factory  inspectorate  —  such   are   some   of  the   wide   circle  of 


SWISS  SOCIALISM  191 

cantonal  and  communal  movements  for  which  the  Griitlianer 
and  their  confederates  have  laboured  with  excellent  results."  * 

While  becoming  more  political  in  recent  years  the  Griitli- 
Verein  has  not  relaxed  its  educational  and  social  functions,  and 
still  co-operates  through  its  branches  with  the  consumers'  co- 
operative societies  and  the  other  voluntary  working  class 
movements.  Lectures  and  libraries  play  a  large  part  in  its 
life,  and  Zurich  is  the  centre  of  its  influential  press. 

The  numbers  of  its  members  have  varied  in  recent  years 
from  about  eight  to  sixteen  thousand,  but  through  its  numerous 
branches  (278  in  1903)  it  exercises  an  influence  far  beyond  that 
indicated  by  its  numbers. 

The  exact  political  status  of  the  Griitli-Verem  is  difficult  to 
define,  and  perhaps  is  best  described  in  the  following  passage 
from  its  official  report  of  1900: 

"By  means  of  its  extension  to  a  large  number  of  places  which 
are  not  closely  touched  by  any  organisation  of  a  similar  purpose, 
and  in  regard  to  its  general  position,  the  Grutli-Verein  is  de- 
signed to  form  the  middle  point  of  the  social-democratic  party. 
The  party  itself  it  cannot  and  ought  not  to  be;  the  situation  is 
already  too  far  advanced  for  that,  quite  apart  from  the  fact  that 
a  union  cannot  properly  represent  a  party  which  is  a  popular 
movement. 

But,  everywhere,  provided  that  they  direct  their  Constitution 
as  well  as  their  educative  and  formative  activities  in  consonance 
with  modern  needs,  the  Griitli  sections  can  become  the  intellec- 
tual centre  of  the  social- democratic  party  of  their  place,  and  in 
the  small  localities  where,  with  this  exception,  no  labour  alliance 
or  only  a  weak  one  exists,  likewise  the  organising  centre.  In 
point  of  fact  the  Griitli  sections  already  have  in  their  hands  the 
political  guidance  of  the  social  democracy  in  many  places,  just 
as  in  central  matters  the  general  union  has  hitherto  often  taken 

1  Leitfaden  }ur  die  Secktionen  und  Mitglieder  des  Schweizer  Griitli-Vereins 
(Zurich,  1900),  p.  33. 


i92  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

the  part  of  initiator  and  chief  worker  for  the  politics  of  Swiss 
social  democracy.  In  any  case  a  social-democratic  party,  em- 
bracing all  the  social-democratic  elements  in  the  country,  which 
in  fact  is  wanted  and  ought  to  emerge  in  the  early  future,  would 
be  unthinkable  apart  from  the  Grutli-Verein  as  chief  support 
of  its  organising  basis." 

During  recent  years  the  Verein  has  repeatedly  worked  in  the 
ranks  of  the  so-called  "extreme  left,"  marching  in  its  front  and 
uniting  with  its  trusted  leaders  on  the  occasion  of  conferences 
about  concrete  questions  of  the  day.  The  name  "extreme 
left"  indicates,  as  is  stated  in  the  1898  Report,  "No  political 
party,  but  only  the  occasional  co-operation  of  the  different 
social  democratic  organisations  and  the  East  Swiss  democracy, 
i.e.,  that  part  of  the  democracy  which  does  not  adhere  to  the 
governmental  free-thought  or  radical-democratic  party  for 
definite  issues  of  federal  policy.  Nothing  else  was  ever  in- 
tended, or  indeed  could  be  intended,  by  the  common  action 
which  manifests  itself  in  occasional  meetings  of  general  com- 
missions or  selected  persons  in  greater  or  less  numbers.  The 
'extreme  left'  in  the  people  corresponds  approximately  to  the 
'social  political  group'  in  Parliament,  which  also  represents 
no  definite  political  party." 

It  would  hardly  be  possible  for  a  political  organisation  to 
occupy  this  unattached  position,  and  to  do  this  work  in  any 
other  country  than  Switzerland.  Where  party  machinery  is 
strongly  formed,  controls  elections  and  moulds  legislative  policy, 
such  a  body  would  in  self-defence  be  driven  either  to  enroll 
itself  with  a  radical  or  socialist  party  in  Parliament,  or  to  form 
itself  into  such  a  party,  as  the  independent  labour  party  has 
done  in  England.  The  "free"  position  of  the  Grutli-Verein  as 
a  political  force  is  explained,  partly  by  the  comparatively  slight 
importance  attaching  to  parties  in  Swiss  politics  and  the  absence 
of  sharp  divisions  between  the  parties.  But  another  considera- 
tion arising  directly  from  the  nature  of  Swiss  democracy  is 


SWISS  SOCIALISM  193 

more  important.  In  America,  or  England,  an  organisation  of 
citizens,  desirous  to  secure  legislative  and  administrative  changes, 
when  their  policy  assumes  a  practical  shape,  can  only  appeal 
to  party.  In  Switzerland  there  is  no  such  necessity.  For  the 
Griitli-Verein  to  convert  the  leaders  or  the  rank  and  file  of  the 
radical  party  to  some  definite  project  which  they  espoused 
would  not  suffice  to  secure  adoption;  it  could  at  most  secure  its 
discussion  and  its  embodiment  in  a  legal  draft.  The  people 
would  in  any  matter  of  debatable  importance  have  to  pronounce 
upon  it.  In  order,  then,  to  effect  a  practical  adoption  of  any 
advanced  measure,  the  Griitli-Verein  must  educate  and  organise 
public  opinion  among  the  mass  of  citizens.  No  amount  of 
skill  or  success  in  wire-pulling  at  Berne  could  enable  them  to 
dispense  with  this  work  of  general  propaganda. 

This  necessity  of  looking  to  the  education  of  the  people, 
rather  than  to  the  manipulation  of  party  machinery,  vitally 
affects  the  organisation  and  methods  of  every  reform  movement 
in  Switzerland.  Whether  the  object  be  temperance  legislation, 
public  insurance,  severance  of  church  from  state,  popular 
initiative,  direct  election  of  executive,  or  any  other  measure 
where  two  or  more  strongly  formed  opinions  or  interests  are 
involved,  it  is  not  enough  for  the  supporters  of  a  policy  to 
secure  pledges  from  elected  representatives,  or  the  admission 
of  their  proposal  to  a  place  upon  a  party  platform,  even  if  that 
party  commands  a  strong  majority  in  the  Assembly.  The 
majority  of  the  voters  in  the  country  must  be  reached,  a  suc- 
cessful movement  must  therefore  above  all  else  agitate  and 
educate,  convince  the  understanding,  and  awaken  enough 
feeling  to  drive  the  requisite  majority  of  electors  to  the  poll 
when  this  particular  issue  is  submitted. 

This  explains  why  the  socialism  of  Switzerland  finds  a  less 
definite  expression  in  party  organisation  than  in  other  European 
countries.  Where  parliamentary  institutions  are  dominant,  the 
main   efforts   of   practical   socialists   are   necessarily   directed 


i94  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

towards  the  candidature  of  their  adherents  in  parliamentary 
and  other  elections;  for  they  would  be  aware  that  a  compact 
minority  of  socialists  might  come  to  hold  the  balance  of  power 
amongst  the  parties  and  might  so  force  their  will  upon  the 
legislation  of  the  country.  Swiss  socialists  could  entertain  no 
such  hope;  no  strong  socialistic  measure  could  pass  into  law 
unless  the  actual  majority  of  the  voting  public  were  at  any 
rate  ad  hoc  socialists. 

These  considerations  forcibly  express  themselves  in  the  con- 
stitution and  methods  of  the  social-democratic  party  formally 
enrolled  after  the  labour  day  agitation  of  1888.  The  following 
Political  and  Economic  Programme  adopted  at  the  Olten  Con- 
ference in  1 89 1,  and  embodied  in  the  manifesto  of  the  new 
party  in  1892,  carries,  alike  in  its  positive  claims  and  its 
omissions,  the  peculiar  stamp  of  Swiss  democracy: 

Political  Programme 

"  1.    Extension  of  democracy. 

"2.    Extension  of  central  government  (Einheit  Staates). 

"3.  Gratuitous  popular  education  and  popular  culture  in  the 
widest  sense  conformable  to  the  conditions  of  modern  science; 
confinement  of  all  ecclesiastical  activities  to  the  private  life  of 
citizens. 

"Economic  Progress 

"1.  The  successive  nationalisation  of  commerce,  communi- 
cations, industry,  agriculture,  and  trades  monopolies  and  state 
(communal)  functions.  In  conformity  with  the  principle  that 
the  product,  after  abstracting  the  cost  of  production  and  a  sum 
furnishing  the  contributions  towards  public  objects  (schools, 
administration  of  justice,  care  of  the  sick,  aged,  invalids, 
military,  etc.)  should  be  handed  over  as  equally  as  possible  to 
all  the  co-producers  (mitwirkenden). 

"For  which  purpose,  the  establishment  of  a  standing  com- 


SWISS  SOCIALISM  195 

mission  for  economic  legislation  which  shall  settle  all  critical 
questions,  find  out  the  best  methods  and  ways  of  carrying  out 
the  particular  acts  of  nationalisation,  and  lay  suitable  proposals 
before  the  National  Assembly.  The  members  of  the  commission 
to  be  chosen  by  the  people.  They  must  be  paid  by  the  federal 
government  and  devote  all  their  energies  exclusively  to  this 
work. 

"  2.  The  right  of  all  citizens  to  work  must  be  expressed  in  the 
Constitution,  and  officials  in  administering  it  must  see  that 
every  one  according  to  his  request  obtains  a  sufficiently  remu- 
nerative occupation  in  the  service  of  the  state,  the  commune, 
or  voluntary  private  employer,  as  far  as  possible  in  accordance 
with  his  capacities.,, 

This  general  statement  of  policy  differs,  of  course,  very 
widely  from  that  familiar  in  most  social-democratic  programmes. 
Though  it  opens  with  a  general  plea  for  "Socialisation,"  the 
conclusion  of  section  1  and  of  section  2  in  the  economic  pro- 
gramme seems  to  make  it  clear  that  not  even  as  a  pious  ideal 
is  the  complete  nationalisation  of  all  the  instruments  of  pro- 
duction, distribution,  and  exchange,  and  the  supervision  of  all 
private  or  public  enterprise,  contemplated.  For  while  the  ending 
of  the  first  section  appears  to  point  to  a  scheme  of  productive 
co-operation  in  which  the  "surplus"  or  "profit,"  after  defraying 
necessary  charges,  shall  go  to  the  particular  group  of  workers, 
the  latter  section  avowedly  contemplates  the  survival  of  private 
business  enterprise. 

But  this  strangely  qualified  socialism  is  characteristic  of 
Swiss  democracy,  alike  in  its  disregard  of  theoretic  finality, 
and  in  the  absence  of  that  emphasis  upon  the  class  struggle 
which  from  the  first  distinguished  the  formal  social-democratic 
creed  of  Germany.  The  fact  that  so  large  a  proportion  of  the 
common  people  still  possess  some  stake  in  the  land,  or  some 
hold  upon  a  livelihood  other  than  that  obtained  by  the  sale  of 
their  labour  power  to  capitalist  employers,  shaped  the  early 


196  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

expression  of  Swiss  socialism  on  other  lines  than  those  of 
a  mere  class-war.  The  existence  of  so  considerable  a 
measure  of  actual  socialism  in  the  communal  and  cantonal 
institutions  of  the  country  naturally  impelled  the  intelligent 
leaders  of  the  new  socialist  movement  to  a  formulation  of 
actions  and  methods  which  should  appeal  to  the  principle  of 
historic  continuity,  embodying  alike  the  conservation  of  the 
socialistic  institutions  already  existing  and  a  development  of  a 
socialism  in  the  federal  government  which  should  supplement 
the  local  socialism,  and  proceed  experimentally,  by  the  applica- 
tion of  the  referendum  and  initiative,  for  the  public  control 
and  working  of  such  functions  as  public  opinion  was  ready  to 
entrust  to  the  federal  government. 

In  a  word,  Swiss  democracy  inhibits  revolution.  Where  each 
concrete  proposal,  either  of  constitutional  or  legal  reform, 
requires  the  separate  sanction  of  the  people,  there  can  be  no 
possibility  of  rushing  a  large  policy  of  socialism  through  a 
legislative  assembly  which  contains  a  snatch  majority  of  avowed 
socialists  elected  by  a  sudden  swell  of  revolutionary  feeling  in 
the  electorate,  or  in  which  a  socialist-labour  minority  by  skilful 
tactics  compels  a  majority  to  execute  its  will.  The  practical 
and  detailed  working  of  Swiss  democracy,  obliging  each  step 
to  be  separately  shaped  and  separately  taken,  imposes  on  the 
theoretic  socialist  an  opportunism  which  his  German  and 
French  confreres  have  been  much  slower  to  admit. 

Not  less  important,  as  a  check  upon  wasteful  methods  of 
reform,  is  the  fact  that  the  referendum  furnishes  a  sharp  indis- 
putable test  of  the  strength  of  popular  opinion. 

In  England,  France  or  Germany  such  an  issue  as  "the 
right  to  public  employment,"  or  a  "universal  eight  hours" 
scheme,  may  occupy  the  front  place  in  the  socialistic  agitation 
for  an  indefinite  period,  because  there  is  no  means  of  ascer- 
taining with  any  degree  of  accuracy  how  strong  is  the  popular 
demand  for  such  a  measure.    In  Switzerland  it  is  competent 


SWISS  SOCIALISM  197 

either  for  the  friends  or  the  enemies  of  such  a  scheme  to  demand 
and  obtain  that  it  shall  be  submitted  to  a  quantitative  expres- 
sion of  popular  judgment;  if  this  test  discloses  the  fact  that  a 
strong  majority  is  opposed  to  the  measure,  its  advocates  recog- 
nise the  futility  and  waste  of  progressive  energy  involved  in 
pressing  it  further  for  the  present,  and  relegate  it  to  the  list  of 
reforms  which  require  more  popular  education  before  it  is  ripe 
for  practical  politics.  Thus  the  "  Right  to  Labour"  was  brought 
to  the  test  by  the  Griitli-Verein  and  the  Labour  Union  in  1894, 
and  was  rejected  by  a  popular  vote  of  308,289  against  75,880. 
The  result  of  such  a  vote  is  to  divert  the  emphasis  and  energy 
of  the  advanced  sections  from  a  measure  which,  however 
desirable  in  itself,  has  evidently  no  early  chance  of  acceptance, 
to  other  measures  which  may  be  urged  with  more  chance  of 
success. 

Such  enforced  opportunism  is  one  characteristic  of  Swiss 
socialism.  The  other,  as  one  saw  from  the  early  programme, 
was  the  formulation  of  socialism  on  general  grounds  of  social 
expediency  rather  than  on  the  basis  of  a  class  struggle. 

Of  course  the  economic  weakness  of  the  wage- earner  under 
the  system  of  capitalistic  employment  received  early  emphasis, 
but  the  bitterness  of  the  "conflict"  was  abated  partly  by  the 
fact  that  the  capitalistic  system  was  less  prevalent  in  Switzerland 
than  in  other  European  countries,  partly  by  a  clinging  faith  to 
the  attainment  of  economic  liberty  for  the  workers  by  means  of 
voluntary  co-operative  associations  which  should  be  independ- 
ent of  state  aid  for  their  constitution  or  their  finance. 

But  while  compromise  and  opportunism  must  remain  strongly 
embedded  in  any  extreme  left-wing  policy,  Swiss  socialism 
during  recent  years  shows  signs  of  increased  class  conscious- 
ness, and  evolves  more  and  more  along  the  lines  of  the  prole- 
tarian struggle.  The  impelling  factor  in  this  change  is,  of 
course,  the  growing  industrialisation  of  large  sections  of  the 
Swiss  population.     Here,  as  in  all  other  advanced  countries, 


198 


A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 


the  towns  are  absorbing  an  ever  increasing  share  of  the  popu- 
lation, and  in  the  towns  the  larger  forms  of  manufacture  and 
commerce,  involving  great  capitalistic  organisation,  play  a  role 
of  growing  importance.  The  last  census  of  occupations  shows 
agriculture  displaced  from  its  primacy,  the  number  both  of 
men  and  women  engaged  in  the  manufacturing  industries 
considerably  exceeding  the  farming  population. 


Extractive  industry 

(Agriculture,  mining,  forestry,  etc.) 

Manufacture 

Commerce 

Transport    

Professions  and  public  offices    

Personal  service,  etc 


Occupations 

Male 

Female 

405,159 

80,215 

435,142 

224,782 

69,414 

54,536 

52,327 

3,549 

44,219 

22,543 

3,165 

9,161 

1,009,426 


394,786 


Among  the  manufacturing,  commercial,  and  transport  em- 
ployments a  diminishing  proportion  of  the  persons  are  employed 
in  business  of  their  own.  The  large  textile  factories,  iron  and 
machine  works,  chocolate  and  brewing  industries,  and  the 
great  hotel-keeping  industry,  not  to  mention  the  ever-expanding 
railroad  industry,  find  employment  for  a  larger  and  larger 
number  of  workers.  A  certain  number  of  these  no  doubt 
retain  a  hold  upon  the  commune  of  their  origin,  which  secures 
them  some  measure  of  support  for  old  age  and  other  emergen- 
cies. But  the  great  majority  of  those  of  Swiss  origin  and  the 
foreign  workers,  who  form  a  considerable  portion  of  the  whole 
body,  have  no  support  or  supplement  to  their  status  of  wave- 
labourer;  their  livelihood  is  exposed  to  all  the  fluctuations  of 


SWISS  SOCIALISM  199 

the  competitive  system  of  industry,  and  to  the  superior  bar- 
gaining power  enjoyed  by  employers  in  the  determination  of 
wages  and  other  conditions  of  labour. 

The  recent  growth  of  this  large  proletariat  brings  the  labour 
and  socialist  movements  of  Switzerland  more  closely  into  line 
with  those  of  other  industrial  nations.  This  is  recognised  both 
by  the  Griitli-Verein  and  by  the  labour  party,  and  has  led  to 
the  formation  of  a  definitely  socialist  political  party,  based  upon 
working-class  interest,  and  seeking  to  advance  the  conditions 
of  the  workers  through  the  machinery  of  government. 

The  following  defence  of  its  primary  aims  is  presented  by 
one  of  its  most  prominent  leaders,  Councillor  E.  Wullschlegel 
of  Bale: 

"The  opponents  of  an  independent  labour  policy  are  fond 
of  casting  in  its  teeth  the  charges  that  it  proclaims  class- 
war  and  is  unpatriotic  in  its  practices.  Nothing  could  be 
more  unjust.  The  class-war  is  a  fact  and  in  no  wise  a  prop- 
erty peculiar  to  labour  politics.  It  is  mirrored  constantly  in 
the  every-day  clashes  of  interests,  and  is  carried  on  quite  as 
ruthlessly,  if  not  more  ruthlessly,  by  the  groups  of  interests  that 
are  opposed  to  labour.  The  charge  of  unpatriotism  is  particu- 
larly humorous  coming  from  the  mouths  of  those  who,  paying 
exclusive  regard  to  their  private  interests,  allow  themselves  to 
be  restrained  by  no  patriotic  considerations  from  damaging  the 
conditions  of  labour  of  Swiss  workers  through  the  introduction 
of  foreign  workers,  and  the  preparation  of  ruinous  competition 
for  internal  industries  through  the  establishment  of  factories 
in  foreign  lands  with  Swiss  capital. 

"  Moreover  the  Swiss  labour  movement  has  never  renounced 
nationalism  in  thought  and  feeling,  nor  will  it  do  so  in  the 
future.  Against  improper  demands  of  foreign  monarchies,  to 
whom  the  Swiss  Republic  with  her  liberal  institutions  and  her 
right  of  asylum  is  a  thorn  in  the  side,  it  has  indeed  more  than 
any  other  class  upheld  the  republican  ideal.    The  Swiss  labour- 


200  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

movement  certainly  recognises  international  duties  and  aims, 
as  well  as  local  and  national  ones.  In  a  state  which  concludes 
international  conventions  and  is  proud  of  harbouring  inter- 
national bureaus  supported  by  foreign  governments,  that  can 
surely  be  no  justifiable  imputation.  Moreover,  the  whole  trend 
of  modern  intercourse  drives  towards  increased  regulation  of 
international  relations  and  interests.  Hitherto  such  regulations 
have  been  formed  with  the  smallest  amount  of  consideration 
for  working  folk,  though  these  surely  have  a  claim  to  participate 
in  the  light  as  well  as  the  dark  side  of  the  growing  internation- 
alism. The  further-sighted  opponents  of  the  social-democratic 
labour  movement  have,  in  fact,  recognised  that  right  in  the 
form  of  a  demand  for  international  labour  legislation.  More- 
over, the  national  and  international  conventions  of  the  labour 
movement  constitute  also  an  admirable  schooling  in  the  sub- 
ordination of  separate  interests  under  a  common  higher  interest, 
which  manifests  not  only  economic  and  social-political  but 
likewise  democratic  and  ethical  proclivities. 

"It  makes  for  the  break-down  of  the  contrast  between  edu- 
cated and  ignorant  workers  which  causes  so  much  social 
mischief,  and  the  removal  of  the  short-sighted  opposition  to 
technical  progress,  which,  for  example,  reduces  the  middle  class 
handicraft  movement  to  such  a  low  level;  in  a  word,  to  place  the 
working  classes  on  a  higher  status,  and  as  a  consequence  also  to 
widen  their  outlook  as  regards  the  needs  of  the  whole  community. 

"  It  is  precisely  that  intensive  systematic  handling  of  politics, 
from  which  many  think  that  the  workers  ought  to  abstain,  that 
enables  labour  to  guard  against  the  worst  outgrowths  of  egoism 
and  sectarian  narrowness.  The  social-democratic  labour  move- 
ment conducted  from  higher  standpoints  is  thus  an  element  of 
genuine  Statecraft  in  the  true  sense  of  that  term." 

How  far  the  practice  of  the  Swiss  socialist  labour  movement 
conforms  to  the  high  principles  here  set  forth  may  possibly  be 
matter  for  dispute. 


SWISS  SOCIALISM  201 

But  it  is  interesting  to  observe  that  Swiss  socialism,  even 
when  entering  the  era  of  distinct  class  consciousness  and  class 
struggle,  still  remains,  at  any  rate  in  the  minds  of  some  of  its 
representatives,  less  intransigeant  than  the  movement  in  neigh- 
bouring countries,  retaining  a  spirit  of  moderation  and  of 
opportunism  imposed  upon  it  by  the  existence  of  democratic 
institutions  more  advanced  than  those  which  exist  elsewhere. 

When  we  turn  from  theoretic  to  practical  considerations,  and 
ask  what  are  the  political  proposals  which  this  socialist-labour 
party  put  in  the  front  of  their  federal  programme,  we  find  our- 
selves moving  rather  in  an  atmosphere  of  modern  social  radi- 
calism than  of  formal  socialism.  For  the  measures  which 
Herr  Wullschlegel  names  as  the  next  aim,  are  public  insurance 
against  accident  and  sickness,  a  shorter  working-day  for 
manufactures  and  transport  trades,  the  unification  of  civil  and 
criminal  law,  improved  regulation  of  labour-contracts,  and  a 
reduction  of  the  tariff  on  necessaries  of  life. 

Switzerland,  of  course,  possesses  groups  of  socialists  more 
pronounced  in  their  economic  theory  and  more  "revolutionary" 
in  their  methods  than  the  social-democratic  party.  Large 
numbers  of  foreign  workmen,  especially  Germans,  are  found 
in  Zurich,  Schaffhausen,  Bale  and  other  manufacturing  dis- 
tricts, some  of  them  refugees  from  foreign  oppressive  govern- 
ments, and  many  of  them  inured  to  the  thought  and  feeling  of 
the  more  rigorous  social- democracy  of  Germany. 

To  these  the  nationalism,  the  militarism,  the  protective  fiscal 
system,  the  large  regard  for  rights  of  private  property  and 
private  enterprise,  which  stamp  the  actual  democracy  of  Swit- 
zerland, are,  of  course,  anathema;  nor  do  they  regard  with 
much  favour  the  co-operative  and  other  voluntary  movements 
which  thrive  in  many  of  the  cantons. 

It  is  to  these  more  especially  that  Switzerland  appears  as  a 
bourgeois  democracy,  formed  by  the  desires  and  ideals  of  the 
little  land-owner  and  the  little  business  man,  and  destitute  of 


202  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

any  large  conception  of  an  economic  commonwealth.  Social- 
istic measures  may  be  taken  by  such  a  people,  but  they  do 
not  make  for  a  genuinely  socialistic  state.  The  little  farmer 
and  trader  favour  nationalisation  of  railroads  because  they 
want  cheap  rates  and  extended  facilities  for  their  goods;  they 
support  public  subsidies  for  technical  instruction  in  order  to 
furnish  a  good  supply  of  cheap  skilled  labour;  federal  and  state 
banking  represents  the  kick  of  the  ordinary  manufacturer, 
trader,  and  farmer  against  the  rich  financiers  of  Geneva  and 
Berne;  and  the  alcohol  monopoly  is  to  be  interpreted  primarily 
as  a  measure  giving  preference  to  domestic  over  foreign  drinks. 

In  other  words,  they  deny  the  reality  of  Swiss  democracy 
regarded  as  the  expression  in  government  of  the  "  general  will," 
ascribing  the  really  determinate  and  formative  influence  to  the 
class  interest  of  particular  industries  or  groups  of  industries 
coercing  or  cajoling  the  people  to  vote  as  they  want. 

There  is  just  enough  plausibility  in  this  representation  to 
make  it  worth  while  raising  the  question  whether  the  demo- 
cratic institutions  of  Switzerland  will  enable  that  country  ulti- 
mately to  escape  the  serious  situation  which  exists  not  only  in 
despotic  or  oligarchic  nations  but  in  nations  where  democracy 
resides  in  the  play  of  representative  government.  Will  the 
referendum,  the  initiative  and  the  other  forms  of  direct  popular 
control  be  proof  against  the  manipulation  of  the  powerful 
economic  interests,  or  will  the  latter  be  enabled  by  skilful  use 
of  the  press,  the  schools,  and  other  instruments  of  intellectual 
influence,  to  make  the  "people"  vote  as  they  desire  and  require? 
Pessimist  critics  of  Swiss  institutions  are  not  wanting  who 
predict  that  democratic  methods  accommodated  to  the  simple 
stable  life  of  a  sparse  rural  population  living  in  communes  and 
small  cantons  will  prove  impracticable  for  the  fuller  and  more 
complex  life  of  a  centralised  and  populous  national  state. 
When,  on  the  one  hand,  powerful  and  wealthy  groups  of  capi- 
talists   control    the    developed    manufacture,    commerce,    and 


SWISS  SOCIALISM  203 

finance,  while,  on  the  other  hand,  politics  exert  an  ever  increas- 
ing influence  upon  business  operations,  will  it  be  possible  to 
prevent  business  men  from  dominating  politics  ?  Here,  as  else- 
where, it  will  be  to  the  interest  of  the  propertied  and  entrepreneur 
classes  to  defend  the  "rights"  of  property  and  the  liberty  to 
manage  their  own  businesses  their  own  way  against  "inter- 
fering" labour  legislation  or  "confiscating"  methods  of  tax- 
ation; here,  as  elsewhere,  the  judicious  manipulation  of  a  tariff 
may  be  of  inestimable  value  to  trades  with  a  "pull";  the  devel- 
opment of  public  expenditure  everywhere  means  remunerative 
contracts  and  lucrative  or  influential  offices;  as  economic  in- 
equality grows  wider,  plutocratic  standards  of  life  and  morals 
will  exert  their  corrupting  influence.  This  will  mean,  either 
the  withdrawal  from  the  referendum  of  an  increasing  number 
of  important  issues,  on  grounds  of  urgency  or  unsuitability  for 
popular  determination,  or  else  the  contrivance  of  arts  of  political 
management  especially  adapted  to  the  conditions  of  Swiss 
democracy,  which  shall  enable  the  financier  and  the  "boss" 
to  procure  the  formal  registration  of  the  popular  will  at  the 
polls. 

If  the  people  in  America  and  elsewhere  can  be  jockeyed  or 
bamboozled  into  electing  "representatives"  who  are  not  really 
their  "choice"  but  the  nominees  of  the  party  managers  and 
ulitmately  of  the  trusts  which  finance  the  parties,  will  not  the 
same  power  be  exerted  in  Switzerland  to  induce  the  people  to 
accept  or  reject  legislative  measures  according  to  the  dictates 
of  interested  factions  ?  Will  the  difference  in  democratic  forms 
in  Switzerland  furnish  an  efficacious  prophylactic  against  a 
disease  which  appears  in  every  other  advanced  democratic 
nation  ? 

Such  are  the  doubts  and  dismal  prophecies  which  do  not 
lack  expression,  especially  among  persons  whose  culture  and 
refinement  is  offended  and  even  shocked  at  the  dominance  of 
materialistic  motives  which  they  seem  to  see  in  the  modern 


204  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

political  development.  The  Centralist,  who  favours  a  powerful 
nationality,  and  is  annoyed  at  the  wasteful  concessions  made 
to  the  obstinate  cantonal  sectarianism;  the  Federalist,  who  is 
filled  with  apprehensions  at  the  strong  suckage  of  the  Bund; 
the  Peace  man,  who  desponds  before  the  steady  support  given 
to  universal  military  service  by  the  people;  the  Free  Trader, 
who  sees  that  every  progressive  measure  is  attended  by  pro- 
tective doles,  —  such  men  are  sometimes  filled  with  dismal  fore- 
bodings as  to  the  abiding  success  of  Swiss  democracy  or  the 
maintenance  of  such  liberty  and  purity  as  it  possesses  now. 

Nor  can  any  impartial  political  student  regarding  Swiss 
institutions  from  without  ignore  these  perils.  If  capitalism, 
manufacturing,  commercial,  and  financial,  follows  in  Switzer- 
land the  same  lines  of  development,  proceeding  as  far  and  as 
fast  as  in  America,  Great  Britain,  or  Germany,  it  is  difficult  to 
conceive  that  the  democracy  of  that  country  can  wholly  escape 
the  poison  and  corruption  which  economic  parasitism  naturally, 
that  is  to  say  historically,  engenders.  Granting  the  existence 
of  capitalistic  combinations  relatively  as  strong  as  those  which 
control  the  finance,  the  transport,  and  the  great  manufacturing 
industries  of  the  United  States,  and  animated  by  similarly  selfish 
interests,  it  would  be  manifestly  unsafe  to  assume  that  the  spirit 
of  liberty,  equality,  and  local  self-government,  which  have  been 
so  signally  exhibited  in  the  history  of  Switzerland,  would 
successfully  resist  the  capitalist  thraldom. 

Assuming  the  existence  of  powerful  business  corporations 
controlling  the  most  valuable  sources  of  raw  materials,  the 
forests,  the  water  power,  the  great  electric  industries,  the  rail- 
roads, the  banking  and  insurance  trade,  and  the  remunerative 
city  services,  it  seems  probable  enough  that  they  would  distort 
or  mutilate  the  political  institutions,  so  as  to  control  them  and 
adapt  them  to  their  business  purposes. 

In  such  an  event  the  class  war  in  Switzerland  would  assimilate 
to  that  of  other  countries  in  Europe  or  America,  breeding  a 


SWISS   SOCIALISM  205 

socialism  which,  in  the  last  resort,  may  turn  to  revolutionary 
measures  to  overthrow  a  despotic  rule  for  which  there  seems  no 
constitutionally  feasible  remedy. 

But  the  safeguard  of  Switzerland  seems  to  rest  in  the  fact 
that  some  of  these  assumptions  are  unwarranted.  The  reason 
why  the  socialism  of  Switzerland  is  less  militant,  milder,  and 
more  opportunist  than  elsewhere,  is  that  neither  economically 
nor  politically  is  capitalism  possessed  of  half  the  strength  that 
it  exhibits  in  the  other  industrial  countries.  Partly  by  the 
survival  and  development  of  older  communal  and  cantonal 
public  enterprise,  partly  by  the  growth  of  a  considerable  measure 
of  federal  socialism  before  private  capitalism  had  gathered 
great  strength,  the  people  of  Switzerland  are  already  strongly 
entrenched  in  many  of  the  economic  out-posts  which,  in  America 
and  other  countries,  are  powerful  fortresses  of  private  monopoly. 
The  railroads,  the  sole  method  of  transport  over  most  of  the 
country,  are  already  in  the  hands  of  the  federal  government; 
there  are  no  coal  and  iron  mines  whose  possession  may  form  a 
strong  pillar  of  capitalism;  the  forests  are  for  the  most  part 
communal,  cantonal  or  intercantonal  properties.  The  water 
power  is  seldom  left  to  uncontrolled  private  enterprise;  the 
more  advanced  municipalities  not  only  own  most  of  their  street 
railways,  gas,  water,  telephones,  and  electric  plant,  but  are  the 
purveyors  of  electric  energy  to  private  industry;  the  communes, 
the  cantons,  and  the  federal  government  altogether  do  a 
large  proportion  of  the  banking  and  insurance  business,  and 
are  extending  their  hold  over  these  financial  functions;  the 
liquor  trade,  which  in  Great  Britain  and  in  certain  parts  of 
America  is  a  source  of  deep  political  corruption,  is  in  part  owned, 
in  large  measure  controlled,  by  government. 

Unless  private  capitalism  can  win  back  all  or  most  of  these 
public  functions,  it  does  not  seem  possible  that  it  can  attain  the 
dangerous  power  it  possesses  in  those  countries  where  it  has 
enjoyed  a  free  career  of  exploitation.    To  the  checks  named 


2o6  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

above  must  be  added  the  hold  which  a  large  proportion  of  the 
working  people  still  possess  upon  the  land.  Capitalism  in 
Switzerland  is  thus  deprived  of  some  of  the  main  conditions  of 
growth.  To  suppose  that  the  iron  masters,  chocolate  manu- 
facturers, bankers,  hotel  keepers,  and  other  capitalists  can 
exercise  in  Swiss  political  institutions  a  power  comparable  to 
that  which  they  wield  in  the  United  States,  Great  Britain,  or 
Germany,  would  be  preposterous.  Yet,  if  they  are  to  use 
politics  for  private  business  ends  in  Switzerland,  they  must  be 
accredited  with  greater  power  than  in  other  countries,  because 
direct  democracy  is  necessarily  more  difficult  to  "manage"  than 
representative  assemblies  where  party  machinery  can  be  manip- 
ulated and  lubricated  easily. 

Revolutionary  socialism  has  no  hold  in  Switzerland  for  it 
finds  no  fuel  there.  If  there  is  a  country  in  the  world  where 
revolutionary  socialism  would  be  stamped  out  as  an  insurance 
company  stamps  out  fire,  it  is  Switzerland,  the  country  of 
small  properties  and  industries. 

Switzerland  is  an  instance  of  a  country,  and  we  might  almost 
say  of  a  civilisation,  which  has  escaped  the  most  bewildering 
of  the  modern  currents.  Its  people  have  not  been  led  off  into 
the  pursuit  of  fabulous  wealth,  like  the  Swiss  and  other  peoples 
in  America.  There  are  many  Swiss  in  America,  but  they  show 
there  the  same  characteristics  as  the  other  people  of  America. 
The  Swiss  in  Switzerland  and  in  America  are  two  entirely 
different  animals  politically.  It  is  a  matter  of  environment. 
The  English  and  others  who  are  so  prone  to  show  their  supe- 
riority to  us  by  lecturing  us  on  our  "corruption"  did  precisely 
the  same  things  when  they  came  to  America  to  live. 

Switzerland  is  of  supreme  importance  to  the  student  of 
politics  and  economics,  because  it  is  an  instance  of  an  orderly 
and  normal  development  of  a  people  of  our  race,  with  institu- 
tions practically  identical  with  ours  at  the  beginning. 


SWISS   SOCIALISM  207 

Switzerland  tells  us  how  our  race  evolves  when  not  overcome 
by  monopoly.  New  Zealand  tells  us  how  it  behaves  when 
bound  hand  and  foot  by  the  monopoly.  From  the  two  many 
of  the  lessons  of  the  immediate  future  can  be  learned.  If  the 
Western  World  is  not  to  sink  into  the  helpless  stratification  of 
existence  which  makes  the  oriental  civilisation  so  intolerable 
to  us,  we  must  learn  these  lessons  and  apply  them. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

EFFECTS  OF  THE  REFERENDUM  AND  INITIATIVE 

What  light  does  the  modern  experience  of  Switzerland  shed 
upon  the  root  problems  of  democracy  as  they  present  them- 
selves in  other  countries  that  have  committed  themselves  to 
the  broad  road  of  popular  self-government?  Most  of  these 
countries  have  set  themselves  to  the  elaboration  of  represent- 
ative institutions  through  which  the  popular  will  may  operate, 
tempered,  guided,  and  informed  by  the  superior  knowledge 
and  discretion  of  elected  persons  who  shall  exercise  a  finally 
determinant  voice  in  all  important  acts  of  government.  The 
underlying  supposition  of  representative  democracy  is  that  the 
people  are  neither  able  nor  willing  to  give  the  requisite  time 
and  trouble  to  weigh  the  merits  of  concrete  acts  of  policy, 
often  intricate  and  far-reaching  in  their  probable  effects,  but 
that  they  are  able  and  willing  to  appoint  from  amongst  them 
persons  competent  to  consider  and  give  judgment  on  their 
behalf,  choosing  these  persons  not  with  reference  to  their 
fitness  for  determining  any  one  of  several  known  issues,  but 
for  some  general  capacity  applicable  to  the  whole  range  of 
government  that  falls  within  the  scope  of  their  office. 

The  variety  and  intricacy  of  governmental  functions  in  a 
large  modern  community  have  given  the  appearance  of  neces- 
sity to  this  method  of  procedure,  at  any  rate  with  regard  to 
all  public  matters  which  are,  by  reason  of  the  area  they  cover 
or  their  specialism,  removed  from  the  experience  of  the  ordi- 
nary citizen.     Only  certain   simple  issues  of  the   ward,   the 

208 


REFERENDUM  AND  INITIATIVE  209 

precinct,  or  in  some  instances  the  city,  fall  sufficiently  within 
the  cognisance  of  the  mass  of  citizens  for  them  to  be  safely 
entrusted  with  their  decision,  and  even  there  the  tendency  to 
hand  them  over  either  to  elected  bodies  or  to  expert  officials 
who  know  better  than  the  common  people  what  is  good  for 
them  is  very  strong.  As  the  social  horizon  for  the  ordinary 
person  continually  widens,  exposing  him  as  man,  worker,  and 
citizen  to  an  increasing  number  of  important  forces  that  play 
over  the  area  of  the  state  or  the  nation,  the  proportion  of 
public  issues  that  lie  under  his  immediate  attention  is  smaller. 
The  politics  of  the  street,  the  ward,  the  village,  become  rel- 
atively less  important;  the  politics  of  the  state,  the  nation,  the 
world,  more  important.  This  appears,  both  by  the  growing 
complexity  it  imparts  to  politics  and  by  the  increased  central- 
isation of  government,  to  compel  the  citizen  to  depend  more 
and  more  upon  the  judgment  of  representatives,  and  less  and 
less  upon  his  own  judgment,  so  far  as  concrete  acts  of  govern- 
ment are  concerned. 

This  reticulation  of  representative  institutions  has,  however, 
not  so  far  fulfilled  the  sanguine  expectations  of  its  theoretic 
advocates.  Its  complexity  and  the  indirectness  of  its  working 
have  lent  themselves  to  grave  abuses,  and  in  that  country  where 
the  machinery  of  representation  has  been  most  logically  con- 
structed as  an  instrument  for  the  expression  of  the  popular 
will,  the  abuses  are  the  greatest.  The  organisation  of  the  party 
which  seems  essential  to  " representative  systems"  has  led  in 
the  United  States  and  elsewhere  to  the  construction  of  party 
"machines"  so  strong  and  so  ably  operated  that  instead  of 
the  will  of  the  people  flowing  freely  upwards  by  processes  of 
delegation  and  election,  and  finding  expression  in  policies 
determined  by  men  who  are  the  genuine  choice  of  the  people, 
the  will  of  the  machine  politicians  is  pumped  down  the  machine 
to  the  very  bottom  of  the  representative  system,  the  primary 
or  ward  meeting,  and  comes  up  again  with  the  falsely  formal 


210  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

stamp  of  the  people's  will  upon  it.  Nor  is  this  the  worst.  For 
the  machine  politician,  great  or  small,  hires  out  the  machine 
to  the  highest  bidder,  and  those  organised  business  interests 
which  have  most  to  fear  from  the  free,  intelligent  expression 
of  the  popular  will,  and  therefore  most  to  gain  by  its  sup- 
pression or  reversal,  buy  the  machine,  and  secure  that  their 
creatures  shall  be  the  chosen  representatives  and  that  their 
will  shall  receive  the  popular  endorsement.  When  the  people 
finds  out  that  it  has  been  betrayed,  it  is  angry;  but  often  it 
does  not  find  out  at  all,  or  when  it  does  find  out  it  is  too  late. 
Besides,  as  a  rule  it  has  no  remedy  except  through  the  very 
channels  of  machine  politics  by  which  the  betrayal  has  been 
effected.  The  interest  and  the  will  of  the  people  are  those  of 
a  multitude  of  scattered  amateurs  confronting  the  interest  and 
the  will  of  close  corporations  of  professional  experts.  How 
can  the  former  secure  and  hold  the  control  of  the  machine? 
So  far  as  powerful  capitalist  bodies  exist,  founded  upon  or 
sustained  by  legal  privileges  in  the  shape  of  charters,  tariffs, 
or  illegal  privileges,  so  long  as  lucrative  offices  are  available 
for  party  spoils,  so  long  as  public  expenditure  can  be  made  a 
source  of  private  profit  through  contracts,  loans,  and  develop- 
ment schemes,  this  skilled  manipulation  of  the  representative 
machinery  will  continue.  The  extent  of  the  poisoning  of  the 
popular  will  and  the  particular  acts  of  corruption  and  distortion 
employed  will  vary  with  the  local  conditions.  In  some  states 
the  crudest  forms  of  monetary  bribery  are  used,  in  others 
subtler  arts  of  influence:  but  the  strong  business  politicians, 
who  know  what  they  want  and  mean  to  get  it,  fit  their  methods 
to  the  human  material  they  are  handling. 

We  need  not  exaggerate  these  notorious  diseases  of  the  repre- 
sentative system.  The  failure  is  of  course  relative,  not  abso- 
lute, the  popular  will  is  not  impotent,  nor  are  the  boss  and  his 
paymaster  omnipotent  in  the  machine:  at  any  given  time 
there  exist  known  though  changing  limits  to  the  management 


REFERENDUM  AND  INITIATIVE  211 

of  representation,  and  any  transgression  beyond  those  limits 
is  apt  to  arouse  a  ground-swell  of  popular  indignation  which 
throws  over  the  machine  and  lifts  into  power,  or  at  any  rate 
to  office,  men  who  are  the  genuine  representatives  of  popular 
feeling.  The  people  must  always  be  humoured,  they  must  be 
cajoled  rather  than  coerced,  and  there  are  necessary  limits 
to  the  practise  of  deception,  the  chief  of  which  consists  in  the 
probability  of  being  found  out. 

The  only  democracy  in  the  world  which  cannot  be  betrayed 
is  the  Swiss.  Even  the  New  Zealand  democracy  with  its 
representative  system  may  find  its  strongest  wishes  disregarded, 
its  best  interests  sacrificed  by  the  factions  or  folly  of  its  parlia- 
ment. But  this  is  impossible  in  Switzerland.  There  the  people 
may  force  into  legislation  any  law  they  want :  they  may  prevent 
any  act  they  do  not  want. 

In  New  Zealand  the  Parliament  may  be  elected  on  one  issue 
and  find  itself  called  on  to  legislate  upon  another  without 
knowing  in  the  least  what  the  people  would  want. 

In  a  few  nations  the  coarser  corruption  is  absent,  but  on 
the  whole  the  history  of  recent  attempts  of  the  people  in  pop- 
ularly governed  countries  to  redress  the  enormities  that  exist 
in  regard  to  the  distribution  of  economic  opportunities,  and 
to  defend  themselves  against  new  dangerous  forms  of  exploi- 
tation connected  with  the  financial  and  industrial  capitalism, 
points  a  lesson  of  definite  and  dismal  failure  for  representative 
government. 

This  is  sometimes  admitted,  but  with  the  proviso  that  the 
lesson  to  be  drawn  is  not  that  the  representative  government  is 
a  worse  method  than  direct  government,  but  that  no  form  of 
democracy  can  be  effective  until  the  mass  of  the  people  is 
raised  to  a  higher  general  level  of  intelligence,  honesty,  and 
public  spirit.  But,  granting  this  general  proposition,  the 
question  still  remains  whether  direct  government  may  not  be 
less  ineffective  than  representative,  or  whether  some  combina- 


212  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

tion  of  the  two  may  not  be  directly  instrumental  in  raising 
those  very  qualities  of  intelligence,  honesty,  and  public  spirit 
that  are  desiderated. 

Let  us  then  return  to  our  question,  "What  light  does  Swiss 
experience  shed  upon  this  darkness?" 

During  the  last  generation,  as  we  have  seen,  there  has  been 
a  steady  and  general  tendency,  both  in  the  central  and  local 
governments,  to  displace  the  representative  power  by  the  direct 
popular  vote. 

The  rule  is  that  a  definite  sanction  by  a  vote  of  the  majority 
of  citizens  must  be  given  to  important  acts  of  legislation  or 
administration,  so  that  appointment  of  officials  by  direct  vote 
of  the  people  displaces  appointment  by  elected  bodies. 

How  far  this  process  of  direct  government  has  been  carried 
may  be  best  expressed  in  the  following  summary  by  M.  Emil 
Frey : 

"  To-day  nine  cantons  possess  the  obligatory  referendum, 
eight  the  facultative,  and  six  the  Landsgemeinde,  while  only 
two  cantons,  Freiburg  and  Valais,  have  stood  by  the  rep- 
resentative system.  Changes  in  the  cantonal  constitutions 
require,  in  conformity  with  the  Federal  Constitution,  the  sanc- 
tion of  a  majority  of  the  people  of  the  canton.  Alterations 
in  the  Federal  Constitution  are  subject  to  the  ratification  of 
the  people  and  the  cantons.  The  so-styled  initiative  has 
been  introduced  in  ten  cantons;  besides  the  six  cantons  with 
Landsgemeinde  it  is  absent  from  three  cantons,  Schwyz,  Frei- 
burg, and  Valais.  In  the  federation  the  initiative  is  appli- 
cable only  to  constitutional  changes. 

"In  twenty-two  cantons  the  people  elect  the  executive;  only 
in  the  cantons  Freiburg,  Vaud,  and  Valais  is  the  appoint- 
ment still  vested  in  the  hands  of  the  Great  Council.  The 
members  of  the  Legislature  in  all  cantons  are  elected  by  the 
people,  likewise  the  members  of  the  Swiss  National  Council. 
In  nineteen  cantons  the  representatives  for  the  State  Council 


REFERENDUM  AND  INITIATIVE  213 

are  also  elected  by  the  people;  in  the  cantons  Berne,  Frei- 
burg, St.  Gall,  Vaud,  Valais,  and  Neufchatel  the  appoint- 
ment for  the  State  Council  is  vested  in  the  Great  Councils. 

"In  conclusion,  besides  the  communal  officials,  the  lower 
judicial  officers  in  twenty-two  cantons  are  directly  appointed 
by  the  people,  while  in  Zug  and  Neufchatel  they  are  elected 
by  the  Great  Councils,  in  Freiburg  by  the  cantonal  bench. 

"Thus  in  the  overwhelming  majority  of  the  cantons  and 
in  the  Confederation,  the  legislation  and,  with  the  exception 
of  the  Federal  Council  and  the  highest  judicial  officers,  the 
election  of  the  most  important  executive  officers,  are  entrusted 
to  the  people." 

Nor  is  this  movement  towards  pure  democracy  yet  ended. 
Although,  as  we  have  already  seen,  the  formulated  initiative 
for  partial  changes  in  the  Federal  Constitution,  secured  in  1891, 
has  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  people  a  large  though  undefined 
power  of  initiating  what  are  in  fact  legislative  changes,  the 
limitations  and  delays  imposed  by  this  method  have  evoked 
a  vigorous  agitation  for  a  direct  legislative  initiative.  The 
recent  action  of  the  canton  of  Zurich  in  introducing  a  practical 
proposal  to  the  Federal  Assembly  has  now  forced  the  question 
into  the  immediate  foreground  of  politics,  and  it  seems  likely 
that  before  long  this  further  step  in  the  logic  of  direct  popular 
government  will  be  taken. 

One  further  step  is  advocated  by  the  extreme  democrats  as 
necessary  to  complete  the  legislative  control  of  the  people, 
the  substitution  of  a  compulsory  for  a  permissive  referendum 
in  the  case  of  federal  laws. 

"Under  a  democratic  system,"  argued  Gengel,  an  early 
advocate  of  this  position,  "all  the  laws  passed  by  the  Chamber 
ought  to  be  submitted  ipso  jure  to  the  sanction  of  the  people. 
When  the  representatives  know  that  the  laws  will  finally  go 
to  the  people,  they  will  make  it  their  business  to  frame  them 
in  harmony  with  popular  ideas  and  needs,  and  will  try  to  supply 


214  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

the  omissions.  Having  the  final  decision  in  their  hands,  the 
people  will  make  a  careful  study  of  the  laws.  With  the  com- 
pulsory referendum  the  people  will  give  their  votes  as  a  matter 
of  course,  whereas  in  the  case  of  the  optional  referendum  they 
will  only  do  so  after  a  certain  amount  of  agitation.  The  op- 
tional referendum  is  a  weapon  of  opposition.  It  can  only 
reject.  The  compulsory  referendum,  on  the  contrary,  is  the 
means  of  expressing  the  popular  will  and  ratifying  the  acts  of 
those  in  power."  l 

But  there  is  no  strong  popular  feeling  behind  this  view,  which 
is  rather  that  of  the  theorist  than  of  the  practical  politician. 
In  point  of  fact,  it  is  doubtful  whether  the  real  control  of  the 
people  would  not  rather  be  diminished  than  increased  by 
making  the  referendum  compulsory.  The  formal  ratification 
of  laws  passed  by  the  Assembly  affords  no  increase  of  popular 
legislative  power;  the  referendum,  whether  compulsory  or 
facultative,  acts  entirely  by  rejection.  Now  the  actual  power 
of  rejection  is  not  enhanced  by  obliging  the  people  to  pass  on 
every  law,  instead  of  selecting  the  particular  laws  upon  which 
they  wish  to  test  the  national  will.  On  the  contrary,  if  every 
law  went  to  the  people  as  a  matter  of  course,  the  agitation  or 
education  requisite  to  promote  discussion  of  a  dubious  measure, 

1  Die  Erweiterung  des  Volksrechts  (quoted  Deploige,  p.  97). 

The  fact  that  in  most  of  the  cantons  where  the  referendum  is  compulsory 
for  cantonal  laws  a  much  larger  proportion  of  rejections  is  recorded  than  in 
the  case  of  federal  laws,  is  not  conclusive  evidence  that  the  intelligent  will  of 
the  people  is  more  effective.  As  a  rule  the  opposition  to  a  law  is  more  strongly 
felt  than  the  approval;  frequently  it  tends  to  represent  a  definite  and  perhaps 
an  organised  interest  that  deems  itself  assailed.  Where  every  law  is  formally 
submitted  to  the  people,  it  will  be  a  more  difficult  task  to  rally  the  supporters 
to  the  poll  than  the  opponents.  Moreover,  whatever  elements  of  pique,  general 
discontent,  or  other  irrational  emotions,  exist  in  the  popular  mind,  will  be  apt 
to  find  their  vent  in  a  blind  wrecking  policy  which  is  not  in  any  proper  sense  an 
expression  of  "the  general  will."  For  its  effective  operation  the  referendum 
seems  to  require  a  sufficient  interval  for  deliberation  and  education,  and  must 
not  be  so  frequent  as  to  preclude  reasonable  consideration  of  the  merits  of 
each  law. 


REFERENDUM  AND  INITIATIVE  215 

and  perhaps  to  secure  its  "veto,"  would  be  far  less  effective, 
causing  laws  which  the  people  would  at  present  reject  to  "pass 
in  the  crowd,"  or  else  enabling  popular  caprice  or  a  small 
snatch  vote  to  cause  rejection.  An  optional  referendum,  en- 
abling the  people  to  focus  their  attention  and  judgment  upon 
controversial,  while  ignoring  non-controversial,  acts,  seems 
really  to  give  them  more  control. 

The  case  for  the  initiative  is  very  different.  However  sel- 
dom used,  the  initiative  does  enlarge  the  actual  liberty  of  the 
people,  furnished  the  positive  legislative  power  which  the 
referendum,  whether  facultative  or  compulsory,  lacks.  With- 
out the  initiative  or  with  an  initiative  only  for  constitutional 
amendments,  the  validity  of  whose  application  is  determined 
by  the  Assembly,  the  strongest  desire  of  the  people  for  legis- 
lative change  may  remain  impotent,  unless  a  recent  election 
of  the  Assembly  has  given  definite  expression  of  this  desire. 

The  demand  for  a  federal  initiative  is  therefore  an  inevitable 
supplement  to  the  referendum  in  the  historical  evolution  of 
Swiss  democracy. 

Pari  passu  with  this  agitation  has  proceeded  a  demand  for 
direct  popular  election  of  the  Federal  Executive  Council 
(Bundesrath),  at  present  elected  by  the  lower  house  of  the 
federal  Legislature. 

The  strong  and  serious  advocacy  of  these  latest  steps  by 
responsible  statesmen  supports  the  conviction  that  Swiss 
democracy  in  its  modern  development  is  successful  arid 
confident. 

But  is  this  success  genuine,  and  this  confidence  justified? 
Does  it  work  for  progress? 

Before  endeavouring  to  answer  these  questions  it  is  neces- 
sary once  more  to  emphasise  the  character  of  the  movement. 
In  general  terms  it  implies  the  subordination  of  representatives 
to  direct  government  in  the  sense  that  the  sovereignty  of  the 
people  is  realised  and  expressed  in  determinant  single  acts  of 


2i6  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

government.  Representative  institutions  are  not  destroyed, 
but  are  made  supplementary  to  the  direct  action  of  the  popular 
will,  their  functions  being  to  relieve  the  people  of  a  burden  of 
practical  governmental  business  too  heavy  for  them  to  bear, 
to  assist  the  will  of  the  people  to  obtain  adequate  expression 
by  providing  fuller  discussion  and  advice,  and  finally  to  form 
a  substitute  for  the  people  in  matters  of  emergency  and  in 
such  matters  of  finance  as,  from  their  intricate  and  special 
nature,  are  incapable  of  being  dealt  with  by  popular  vote. 

That  it  does  not  belong  to  the  logic  of  the  movement  to  dis- 
spense  with  representative  government  is  attested  by  the  efforts 
made  to  improve  the  method  of  representation  so  as  to  make 
these  elected  bodies  better  reflections  of  popular  opinion  and 
desire. 

This  movement  has  not  merely  been  contemporaneous  with 
the  tendency  towards  direct  government,  but  has  been  organ- 
ically associated  with  it.  The  same  leaders,  the  same  popular 
sentiments  as  favour  the  referendum  and  initiative,  have  sup- 
ported the  system  of  proportionate  representation  which  is 
making  way  in  the  cantons.  Those  who  desire  to  destroy  an 
institution  do  not  set  about  to  strengthen  it.  Swiss  democ- 
racy establishes  a  new  harmony  in  the  relations  between  rep- 
resentative and  direct  government,  a  new  division  of  functions, 
and  the  fact  that  a  growing  number  of  determinant  powers 
are  assigned  to  the  latter  does  not  warrant  the  assumption 
that  the  former  is  marked  for  extinction  or  that  it  can  fail  to 
continue  to  occupy  an  important  place  in  the  fabric  of  Swiss 
government.1 

1  The  agitation  for  minority  representation  through  some  system  of  Propor- 
tion began  in  the  middle  of  last  century,  but  the  first  application  of  the  principle 
was  reserved  for  a  case  of  grave  political  perplexity.  The  gerrymandering  in 
the  canton  of  Ticino,  by  which  a  party  minority  but  little  inferior  to  the  ma- 
jority in  number  was  kept  in  permanent  political  impotence,  had  led  to  a  violent 
revolution  only  allayed  by  interference  of  the  federal  government.  Under 
these  circumstances  the  first  experiment  in  proportional  representation  was 


REFERENDUM  AND  INITIATIVE  217 

When  the  proposal  to  endow  the  people  with  the  power  of 
initiating  and  passing  any  law  which  they  approve,  and  of 
exercising  an  effective  veto  over  the  actions  of  their  represent- 
atives, first  presents  itself  to  ordinary  sober  citizens  it  is  often 
regarded  as  "revolutionary."  The  "people,"  it  appears, 
cannot  safely  be  entrusted  with  the  direct  personal  exercise 
of  so  much  power.  The  "people"  has  not  the  time,  the  abil- 
ity, or  the  inclination  to  study  and  determine  concrete  laws 
and  other  acts  of  polity,  and  ought  to  leave  to  those  expert 
advisers,  whom  it  has  chosen,  the  right  freely  to  determine  the 
legislative  forms  in  which  this  polity  shall  be  expressed.  The 
ordinary  citizen  is  more  fitted  to  select  persons  of  political 
wisdom  than  to  determine  whether  any  particular  political 
act  is  wise. 

If  a  people  is  enabled  to  pass  any  law  it  chooses  without 
any  let  or  hindrance,  or  to  veto  any  law  which  the  judgment 
of  its  competent  advisers  has  approved,  a  spasm  of  popular 
excitement,  fear,  anger,  or  cupidity  may  induce  sudden  and 

introduced.  The  curative  success  here  achieved  naturally  "boomed"  the 
remedy,  and  now  five  cantons,  Ticino,  Neufchatel,  Geneva,  Zug,  Solothurm, 
with  several  of  the  larger  municipalities,  including  Berne  and  Bale,  have, 
adopted  it.  The  form,  differing  in  details  in  the  various  instances,  is  every- 
where substantially  the  same.  Nomination  of  candidates  takes  place  on  party 
or  group  tickets,  each  elector  has  as  many  votes  as  there  are  vacancies  and 
may  either  vote  a  party  ticket  or  make  one  for  himself  out  of  the  various  tickets. 
There  is  no  cumulative  voting  for  one  or  several  candidates,  but  if  a  voter 
does  not  mark  the  full  number  of  choices,  the  balance  goes  to  the  ticket  as  a 
whole  under  which  he  registers. 

It  is  in  the  counting  of  the  votes  that  the  idea  of  proportion  is  put  into  effect. 
The  board  of  election  first  determines  how  many  valid  votes  have  been  cast, 
then  how  many  for  each  ticket  or  party,  and  how  many  for  each  candidate. 
The  whole  number  of  votes  is  then  divided  by  the  number  of  vacancies  to  be 
filled  in  order  to  find  the  so-called  "electoral  gradient."  The  number  of 
votes  given  for  each  ticket  is  then  divided  by  the  electoral  gradient  to  show 
how  many  representatives  are  elected  from  each.  Every  group  has  a  right  to 
as  many  delegates  as  the  gradient  is  contained  times  in  its  vote.  If  a  party 
does  not  receive  enough  votes  to  equal  this  division,  it  has  no  representative. 
(Vincent,  p.  78.) 


218  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

irrevocable  actions  involving  the  honour,  the  safety,  the  very 
existence  of  the  Commonwealth. 

For  the  effect  of  the  referendum,  accompanied  by  the  initia- 
tive, is  not  merely  to  substitute  direct  for  representative 
government,  but  to  remove  the  check  of  a  second  legislative 
chamber.  A  single  judgment  of  the  people,  or,  where  the 
initiative  is  used,  a  repeated  judgment  of  the  same  people, 
makes  or  unmakes  legislation. 

To  those  brought  up  on  the  classical  phraseology  of  the  "  fickle 
multitude"  lashed  to  fury  by  a  " demagogue,"  dupe  to  the 
" panacea"  of  any  glib-tongued  legislative  charlatan,  intoxi- 
cated with  the  sense  of  power  and  eager  to  use  it  for  levelling 
purposes,  the  experiment  may  well  seem  dangerous. 

Persons  indoctrinated  with  the  theory  of  agitation  which 
finds  favour  in  conservative  quarters  in  America  and  Great 
Britain,  by  which  unscrupulous  politicians  can  sow  grievances, 
generate  popular  discontent,  stimulate  unjust  or  impracticable 
remedies,  trading  on  the  ignorance  and  excitability  of  "the 
mob,"  may  be  recommended  to  compare  this  theory  with  the 
facts  as  illustrated  in  Swiss  history. 

Among  Swiss  statesmen,  officials,  and  political  students 
there  is  a  widely  held  opinion  that  the  referendum  and  the 
initiative  work  out  "conservatively."  This  view,  when  exam- 
ined, does  not  mean  that  progress  is  thereby  retarded,  but 
simply  that  the  people  do  not  "rush  their  gates."  This  dis- 
tinction deserves  further  elucidation.  A  certain  school  of 
advanced  radicals  opposed  the  referendum  movement  in  Swit- 
zerland, as  they  oppose  it  elsewhere,  on  two  grounds.  First, 
that,  upon  the  whole,  representatives  more  intelligent,  and  devot- 
ing themselves  more  closely  to  practical  politics,  would  be  able 
and  willing  to  devise,  draft,  and  carry  through  progressive 
legislation  somewhat  in  advance  of  the  conscious  wishes  of 
the  electorate.  Secondly,  an  objection  closely  related  to  the 
other,  that  the  mass-mind  is  conservative  in  the  sense  that  it 


REFERENDUM  AND  INITIATIVE  219 

will  reject  a  measure,  nine  tenths  of  which  it  approves  on 
account  of  the  other  tenth  which  it  disapproves.  Since  the 
referendum  must  be  exercised  in  an  affirmative  or  negative 
judgment  on  a  complete  draft  of  a  law,  a  collection  of  minor 
discontents  is  liable  to  cause  a  rejection  of  a  measure  the  main 
provisions  of  which  the  majority  really  approves.  This  objec- 
tion rests  on  the  supposition  that  the  dislikes  of  the  average 
man  are  more  effective  than  his  likes. 

Now  the  experience  of  Switzerland  appears  to  give  some 
measure  of  support  to  both  these  objections.  One  thing  is 
quite  certain,  viz.,  that  the  "referendum"  has  not  favoured 
1  'hasty"  legislation.  The  great  progressive  measures  securing 
large  new  functions  for  the  federal  government,  the  factory 
legislation,  the  nationalisation  of  railroads,  of  the  alcohol 
monopoly,  and  the  national  bank,  etc.,  ripened  in  the  legisla- 
tive assembly  earlier  than  in  the  country;  many  of  these  laws, 
or  the  constitutional  amendments  enabling  them,  were  rejected 
once  or  more  by  the  people.  In  none  of  these  cases  can  it  be 
pretended  that  the  people  acted  in  a  hurry,  or  sought  to  curtail 
the  elaborate  processes  of  inquiry  and  discussion  which  in 
every  instance  preceded  the  drafting  and  passing  of  the  law  in 
the  representative  assemblies.  Most  measures  obtained  the 
assent  of  one  or  both  legislature  assemblies  long  before  they 
were  put  into  a  form  acceptable  to  the  people. 

To  this  must  be  added  the  admission  that  several  important 
measures  of  a  progressive  or  a  socialistic  character,  such  as 
the  match  monopoly,  the  right  to  public  employment  and 
the  compulsory  insurance  law,  have  been  rejected  and  have 
not  yet  found  popular  acceptance,  though  in  two  of  these 
instances  the  representative  chambers  endorsed  the  proposal. 

Generalising  from  these  and  other  instances  where  the  repre- 
sentative assemblies  appear  more  advanced  than  the  people, 
critics  have  made  out  a  prima  facie  case  against  the  referendum 
regarded  as  an  instrument  of  popular  progress. 


22o  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

But  such  a  judgment  is  based  on  a  superficial  interpretation 
of  the  facts. 

The  action  of  the  people  through  the  referendum  is  some- 
times represented  as  distinctively  obstructive,  because  in  a 
large  proportion  of  instances  when  a  proposal  is  put  to  them 
they  have  rejected  it.  From  the  time  of  the  adoption  of  the 
Federal  Constitution,  in  1874,  up  to  June,  1906,  the  referendum 
has  been  used  twenty-nine  times  for  laws  and  resolutions,  and 
eighteen  times  for  constitutional  amendments.  Of  the  29 
laws  they  have  accepted  10  and  rejected  19;  of  the  18  con- 
stitutional amendments  they  have  accepted  12  and  rejected  6. 
Besides  this,  since  1891,  there  have  been  six  votings  on  initiative 
demands,  only  one  of  which  was  accepted. 

The  total  number  of  votings  upon  concrete  legislative  pro- 
posals thus  amounts  to  53,  and  of  these  30  were  rejected,  23 
accepted.  Even  thus  regarded  the  preponderance  of  rejection 
is  not  very  great;  it  cannot  be  said  that  the  popular  vote  is  a 
definitely  destructive  weapon.  Still  less  do  the  facts  admit  this 
interpretation  when  looked  at  more  closely.  It  will  be  observed, 
first,  that  the  people  appears  much  more  favourably  inclined 
towards  constitutional  amendments  than  towards  laws,  though 
most  of  the  amendments  were  really  preliminary  towards  the 
passing  of  some  law  which  previously  lay  outside  the  legislative 
competence  of  the  federation. 

Of  these  amendments  twice  as  many  were  accepted  as  re- 
jected. This  is  susceptible  of  two  explanations.  In  the  first 
place  it  is  doubtless  easier  to  get  the  assent  of  the  people  to  a 
principle  than  to  the  particular  law  devised  to  embody  that 
principle.  So,  for  instance,  the  same  people  that  had  bestowed 
upon  the  federal  government  the  right  to  legislate  on  a  national 
accident  and  sick  insurance  scheme  rejects  the  particular  scheme 
when  it  is  presented  in  a  draft  law.  A  constitutional  amendment 
generally  adds  a  new  function  to  the  government,  but  the  particu- 
lar exercise  of  that  function  may  quite  reasonably  be  unpopular. 


REFERENDUM  AND  INITIATIVE  221 

But  there  is  another  explanation  of  the  discrepancy  in  the 
proportion  of  acceptances  and  rejections  among  laws  and  con- 
stitutional amendments  respectively.  The  referendum  in  the 
latter  is  obligatory,  but  in  the  former  facultative. 

This  means,  of  course,  that  only  those  laws  and  decrees  are 
submitted  to  a  referendum  which  have  evoked  the  opposition 
of  a  substantial  body  of  citizens  who  conceive  it  possible  that 
they  may  win  the  majority  of  the  electorate  to  their  view. 

It  is  evident  that  this  consideration  completely  disposes  of 
the  notion  that  the  people  is  proved  to  be  hostile  to  progressive 
legislation  by  the  fact  that  they  reject  more  laws  than  they 
accept.  Of  course  they  do,  for  only  those  laws  which  are 
likely  to  be  rejected  are  put  to  the  vote.  In  point  of  fact,  since 
1874  no  less  than  246  laws  and  resolutions  have  been  passed 
by  the  Federal  Assembly,  all  of  which  might  have  been  put  to 
the  people,  if  the  opposition  to  them  had  been  strong  enough  to 
secure  the  qualifying  number  for  the  demand,  and  keen  enough 
to  press  it  to  a  vote.  Where  no  referendum  was  demanded  it 
must  be  assumed  that  the  people  silently  endorsed  the  act  of 
their  Federal  Legislature,  and  that  out  of  the  total  number  of 
246  laws  and  resolutions  only  19  met  with  their  disapproval. 

The  initiative  has  certainly  not  proved  so  far  a  very  service- 
able tool,  the  only  case  where  it  has  been  successfully  evoked 
being  the  least  creditable  legislative  action  of  the  Swiss  democ- 
racy in  recent  years,  viz.,  the  passing  of  the  famous  "  slaughter- 
house" article  drafted  under  the  influence  of  an  anti-Semitic 
agitation. 

It  seems  unlikely  that  the  formulated  initiative,  either  for  a 
constitutional  amendment  or  for  a  law,  would  be  put  to  frequent 
use,  for  if  a  "cause"  is  strong  enough  to  advance  by  this  legis- 
lative path,  it  is  unlikely  to  be  so  destitute  of  friends  inside  the 
Assembly  that  it  cannot  obtain  attention  in  the  ordinary  way. 

The  referendum  is  essentially  a  veto,  and  it  is  therefore  foolish 
to  argue   that   it   is   conservative   or  destructive   because,  in 


222  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

a  majority  of  instances  where  it  is  invoked,  it  causes 
rejection. 

Moreover,  the  charge  of  being  an  anti-progressive  instrument 
weakens  before  a  close  scrutiny  into  the  chief  instances  where 
it  appears  to  have  been  used  as  a  means  of  defeating  a  pre- 
sumably "progressive"  measure.  Several  of  the  rejections  are 
based  upon  the  natural  and  not  unreasonable  fear  lest  the 
central  government  should  undertake  functions  which  might 
be  better  left  to  the  cantons.  This  state-right  feeling  led  the 
people  in  1874  to  reject  the  law  transferring  the  determination 
of  the  Swiss  franchise  from  the  sovereignty  of  the  cantons  to 
that  of  the  federation  (though  on  the  same  day  when  this  law 
was  rejected  they  accepted  a  law  federalising  the  law  of  mar- 
riage and  divorce),  and  the  same  feeling  was  admittedly 
responsible  in  high  degree  for  the  recent  rejection  of  the 
insurance  law. 

The  promoters  of  federal  socialism  have  indeed  sustained 
several  severe  disappointments.  The  rejection  of  the  initiative 
for  a  constitutional  amendment  for  legislation  in  The  Right 
to  Labour  (1894),  and  of  the  attempt  to  establish  a  Federal 
Match  Monopoly  are  often  adduced  as  evidence  of  the  conserv- 
ative working  of  the  popular  vote.  But  both  these  "  reforms " 
were  of  dubious  value,  and  a  variety  of  causes  co-operated  for 
their  defeat. 

The  same  is  true  also  of  the  rejection  by  a  small  majority  of 
the  Small  Workshops  Law  in  1894,  a  proposal  to  extend  the 
area  of  federal  factory  legislation.  In  all  these  cases  the  states- 
right  feeling,  and  the  accompanying  distrust  of  central  bureau- 
cracy, played  a  considerable  part. 

In  some  instances  the  popular  vote  has  stopped  an  un- 
doubtedly retrogressive  and  injurious  law.  An  example  of  this 
is  afforded  by  the  Spoils  Campaign,  as  it  was  called,  of  1894, 
in  which  a  law  was  launched  by  popular  initiative  to  compel 
the  federal  government  to  distribute    a  portion  of  the    tariff 


REFERENDUM  AND  INITIATIVE  223 

revenue  among  the  cantons  at  two  francs  per  head.  Here  was 
an  attempt  of  the  cantons  to  turn  the  table  of  centralisation, 
and  to  rifle  the  resources  of  the  federation  for  the  purposes  of 
keeping  down  local  taxation.  The  good  sense  of  the  people 
repelled  the  temptation,  for  when  the  measure  came  to  the 
referendum  it  was  lost  by  an  overwhelming  majority. 

There  are,  however,  a  few  instances  in  which  sound  measures 
have  been  denied  or  delayed,  and  unsound  measures  affirmed 
by  the  popular  vote.  It  would  indeed  be  strange  if  this  or  any 
other  instrument  of  government  worked  with  perfect  wisdom 
and  justice.  Religious  narrowness  and  a  certain  meanness  in 
money  matters  are  characteristic  defects  of  the  peasant  and 
the  petit  bourgeois.  To  these  defects  may  be  attributed  the 
reactionary  Slaughter-House  Law,  the  rejection  of  the  vote  for 
Foreign  Legations,  and  perhaps  that  of  the  Compulsory  Vac- 
cination Law.  But  the  endorsement  of  undeniably  reactionary 
acts  and  the  refusal  of  undeniably  progressive  acts  have  been 
extremely  rare. 

There  remains,  however,  a  residual  truth  in  the  statement 
that  the  referendum  works  conservatively.  Most  radical  or 
socialistic  measures  have  been  rejected  at  least  once  by  the 
people  after  they  have  received  the  final  assent  of  a  majority  of 
the  representatives.  It  may  even  be  admitted  that  when  a 
measure  is  put  to  the  referendum  there  is  a  fractious  tendency 
to  reject  rather  than  to  accept.  A  peasant  in  a  rural  district 
of  one  of  the  German  cantons  was  asked  why  he  and  his  fellow 
villagers  always  seemed  to  vote  against  the  measures  that  were 
supported  by  the  member  whom  they  returned  to  the  Legis- 
lative Assembly.  "Well,  you  see,"  was  the  reply,  "it  is  like 
this.  If  we  say  'Yes,'  it  is  nothing,  but  if  we  say  'No,'  that  is 
something  for  us."  The  adverse  vote  alone  appears  to  be  an 
exercise  of  power.  Something  must  be  allowed  for  this  among 
the  more  ignorant  portions  of  the  people,  but  not  too  much. 

There  is  in  addition  a  truly  favourable  strain  of  conservatism 


224  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

in  the  people.  They  will  not  vote  for  any  large  measure  of 
centralised  radicalism  suddenly  thrust  before  them.  Their 
tendency  is  to  prefer  the  canton  which  they  know  to  the  larger, 
vaguer  entity  of  the  federation.  "My  shirt  is  nearer  to  me 
than  my  coat,"  is  their  homely  proverb.  Besides,  they  are 
not  easily  swept  off  their  feet  by  some  taking  theory  into  giv- 
ing large  new  powers  to  any  sort  of  government.  They  want 
to  feel  sure  how  it  will  work  out,  especially  as  regards  taxation 
and  revenue. 

If  this  is  conservatism,  no  doubt  upon  the  whole  the  Swiss 
people  is  conservative,  and  to  that  extent  the  referendum 
worked  conservatively.  But  can  real  progress  be  got  faster 
than  accords  with  the  actual  temperament  and  wishes  of  the 
people?  That  is  the  real  issue,  if  we  are  seeking  to  estimate 
the  worth  of  the  referendum  as  an  instrument  of  progress.  It 
may  be  true,  as  Mr.  Lowell,  for  example,  holds,  that  "the 
people  are  really  more  conservative  than  their  representatives,"  * 
though  the  reason  given,  the  popular  rejection  of  radical  meas- 
ures accepted  by  the  Assembly,  is  not  quite  convincing,  for  some 
allowance  must  be  made  for  the  feeling  of  doubtful  represen- 
tatives, when  a  measure  regarding  the  merits  of  which  they 
entertain  no  clear  conviction  comes  up  for  consideration. 
They  will  be  more  readily  inclined  to  give  their  formal  assent, 
because  they  know  that  the  ultimate  and  real  decision  rests 
with  the  people.  A  member  who  would  not  vote  for  a  law 
if  he  knew  his  vote  gave  immediate  validity  to  it  will  often  vote 
for  it  if  the  real  meaning  of  his  vote  is  that  the  people  are  thereby 
enabled  to  consider  and  determine  it.  A  law  rejected  by  the 
Assembly  will  not  be  put  to  the  people,  a  law  accepted  may 
upon  demand  be  put;  this  being  so,  an  affirmative  vote  in  the 
Assembly  will  often  express  not  a  complete  confidence  in  the 
utility  of  the  law,  but  a  desire  to  saddle  the  people  with  the  real 
responsibility  of  rejection. 

1  Vol.  II,  p.  269. 


REFERENDUM  AND  INITIATIVE  225 

But  suppose  it  were  admitted,  as  indeed  is  not  unlikely, 
that  the  greater  knowledge  and  higher  average  intelligence  of 
the  representatives  does  make  them  more  progressive  than 
the  people.  Are  we  thereby  forced  to  the  conclusion  that  the 
referendum  blocks  or  retards  progress  ?  Only  if  it  be  assumed 
that  the  passing  of  the  largest  number  of  formally  progressive 
laws  constitutes  progress.  There  are  indeed  some  social  re- 
formers who  appear  to  think  that  it  is  their  duty  to  get  them- 
selves elected  into  office  by  electors  who  do  not  know  how 
" advanced"  they  are,  in  order  that  they  may  use  their  legis- 
lative power  to  put  on  the  statute  book  laws  which  express,  not 
the  actual  will  of  the  people,  but  what  "ought"  to  be  their  will 
if  they  were  as  wise  as  their  representatives.  Now  of  this  mode 
of  forcing  the  pace  of  legislation  it  may  be  said  that  it  is  not 
democracy  and  it  is  not  progress.  No  law  is  good  per  se,  and 
true  progress  is  not  secured,  but  is  actually  retarded,  by  getting 
on  to  the  statute  book  measures  not  acceptable  to  the  people. 
The  abiding  tendency  of  the  Swiss  people  has  been  to  insist 
upon  their  Legislature  accommodating  the  laws  to  the  state  of 
public  opinion.  This  has  sometimes  meant  a  good  deal  of 
modification  and  of  compromise,  weakening  the  theoretic 
efficacy  of  a  law,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Alcohol  Monopoly  and  the 
Factory  Law.  We  have  seen  that  even  the  interests  and  the 
prejudices  of  large  sections  of  the  people  must  be  taken  into 
account  in  framing  a  law :  offence  must  not  be  given  to  powerful 
industries,  local  machinery  of  government  must  be  preferred, 
expenses  must  be  kept  down.  It  seems  quite  possible  that 
representative  government,  endowed  with  full  legislative  author- 
ity, might  produce  a  larger  crop  of  technically  better  laws  in  a 
given  time. 

But  this  "forced"  progressive  legislation  suffers  from  two 
defects  which  outweigh  its  superficial  advantages.  In  the  first 
place,  the  excellence  of  a  law  largely  depends  upon  the  excel- 
lence of  its  administration,  and  a  law  passed  in  opposition  to, 


226  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

or  in  advance  of,  the  general  sentiment,  will  of  necessity  be  ill- 
administered.  This  will  be  particularly  true  of  nations  accus- 
tomed to  liberty  in  thought  and  action  and  resentful  of  public 
acts  that  offend  their  convenience  or  sense  of  justice.  The 
difficulty  of  enforcing  liquor  legislation,  compulsory  school 
attendance,  or  factory  regulations,  that  are  opposed  to  the 
wishes  of  large  sections  of  citizens,  is  a  notorious  example  of 
the  waste  of  progress  in  passing  laws  without  due  considera- 
tion of  the  actual  sentiments  of  the  people. 

In  Switzerland,  with  the  fear  of  the  people  continually  before 
their  eyes,  legislators  must  mould  their  measures  to  fit  the 
practical  requirements  of  the  situation;  they  must  go  to  their 
constituents  and  try  to  ascertain  what  the  people  want,  so  that 
they  may  hammer  the  theoretically  good  law  into  the  sort  of 
goodness  that  fits  the  people;  perhaps,  as  in  the  nationalisa- 
tion of  the  railroads  and  the  national  bank,  they  must  make 
several  "tryings  on"  before  they  get  a  " fit"  which  the  customer 
consents  to  wear.  Is  not  this  a  saner  method  than  that  their 
customer  must  take  and  wear  a  suit  of  clothes  which  must  be 
well  made  because  it  fits  the  Apollo  Belvedere? 

Every  true  democrat  rightly  resents  the  "We  know  better 
what  you  want  than  you  know  yourself"  attitude  adopted  by 
many  defenders  of  the  superiority  of  representative  institution. 
A  law,  like  a  coat,  must  be  made  to  fit  the  wearer,  and  the  one 
to  determine  whether  it  does  fit  must  be  the  wearer  himself, 
not  the  tailor. 

But  not  merely  does  a  law  passed  in  advance  of  public  opinion 
by  the  superior  intelligence  of  elected  persons  suffer  from  ill- 
administration,  it  suffers  also  from  insecurity.  A  law  forced 
on  to  the  statute  book  against  the  will  of  the  people  may  be 
undone  by  a  change  in  the  composition  of  Parliament.  Radical 
measures  which  have  won  unpopularity  because  the  country 
was  not  "ripe"  for  them,  may  be  the  cause  of  the  return  of  a 
conservative    majority   which   will    repeal    them.    Indeed,    a 


REFERENDUM  AND  INITIATIVE  227 

growing  practical  defect  of  representative  government  with 
party  legislation  is  that  the  passing  of  a  law  carries  with  it  no 
finality,  and  that  a  large  proportion  of  the  energy  and  time  of 
legislative  bodies  is  devoted  to  repealing  or  amending  the  laws 
passed  by  their  predecessors.  This  waste  is  inevitable  under  a 
Constitution  which  furnishes  no  way  by  which  to  test  whether  a 
law  is  or  is  not  acceptable  to  the  people  who  are  to  obey  it. 

It  will  be  generally  agreed  that  it  is  essential  to  the  sound 
operation  of  a  particular  law,  and  indeed  to  the  general  con- 
fidence in  the  art  of  government,  that  a  sense  of  permanency 
shall  be  attached  to  laws.  No  other  method  secures  this  so 
well  as  the  referendum.  It  acts  as  an  economy  of  the  time  and 
energy  not  merely  of  the  representative  legislature  but  of  the 
people.  It  is  not  the  least  service  of  the  referendum  that  it 
puts  ideas  and  feelings  which  claim  political  attention  to  an 
ordeal.  Under  representative  government  a  political  project 
may  engage  public  attention,  arousing  hopes  and  alarms  for 
an  indefinite  time:  the  wildest  and  most  foolish  proposals  may 
float  about  the  public  mind  in  empty  phrases  and  platform  cries, 
making  or  marring  the  fortunes  of  statesmen  and  parties,  and 
corrupting  the  popular  intelligence.  No  one  is  able  to  know 
how  much  support  a  project  has  or  how  much  enthusiasm  there 
is  behind  it.  Even  after  it  has  entered  the  arena  of  practical 
politics,  has  been  the  subject  of  resolutions  in  the  Houses  of 
Congress,  has  been  put  into  legislative  form  and  voted  down, 
it  is  not  killed,  but  is  liable  to  come  up  again  and  again  if  it 
contains  any  plausibility  or  seems  useful  for  vote- catching  at 
elections.  Thus  politicians  are  in  constant  dread  of  ghosts  and 
chimeras  whose  unsubstantiality  they  cannot  prove  and  whose 
reappearances  they  cannot  exorcise. 

In  Switzerland  it  is  different.  If  any  plausible  proposal 
comes  up  in  politics,  its  backers  know  that  the  only  way  to 
secure  serious  attention  for  it  is  to  put  it  to  the  test  provided  by 
the  Constitution.    Unless  they  are  able  to  obtain  enough  sup- 


228  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

port  to  get  the  formal  registry  of  the  Assembly  so  that  it  may 
go  to  the  referendum,  and  can  secure  the  necessary  number  of 
votes  for  the  referendum  demand,  they  cannot  make  good  their 
claim  for  its  importance;  if  it  is  submitted  to  the  people  and  is 
voted  down  by  a  large  majority,  its  fate  is  settled,  if  not  for 
good,  at  any  rate  for  a  long  period  of  time.  The  converse  also 
holds.  When  a  law  is  once  accepted  by  the  people,  after  the 
period  of  canvass  and  discussion  that  supervenes  between  its 
acceptance  by  the  Assembly  and  the  referendum,  the  seal  of 
finality  is  set  upon  this  act  of  policy;  its  stoutest  adversaries 
usually  accept  the  inevitable,  willing  to  make  the  best  of  it. 
Reversal  of  the  people's  will  thus  formally  and  deliberately 
expressed  is  not  contemplated  as  a  serious  possibility. 

Here  then  we  have  one  answer  to  the  objection  that  the  refer- 
endum retards  progress.  It  may,  perhaps  does,  lengthen  the 
time  between  the  early  inception  and  the  act  of  legislation,  and 
may  moderate  the  rigour  of  the  law;  but  the  laws  that  are  thus 
sanctioned  are  better  expressions  of  the  popular  will,  are  better 
received  and  administered,  and  have  more  security  of  per- 
manence.   This  means  more  progress  in  the  long  run. 

Even  where  parliamentary  government  is  taken  at  its  best, 
with  a  party  system  free  from  all  the  grosser  forms  of  corruption, 
the  referendum  would  form  a  serviceable  support  and  com- 
plement, affording  a  peaceful  test  for  closely  contested  issues, 
and  associating  the  people  with  the  work  of  government  in  a 
manner  calculated  to  increase  the  popular  respect  for  law. 
Every  one  values  more  that  which  he  has  had  a  hand  in  making. 

But  where  party,  falls  under  the  dominion  of  a  machine 
operated  by  economic  interests,  utilising  every  known  art  of 
corruption  and  manipulation  in  order  to  bend  public  policy  to 
private  ends,  by  procuring  laws  favourable  to  their  interests,  it 
is  difficult  to  devise  any  remedy  so  efficacious  as  the  substitu- 
tion of  direct  government  for  that  indirect  government  which 
has  broken  down. 


REFERENDUM  AND  INITIATIVE  229 

Some  degree  of  efficacy  may  indeed  attend  the  efforts  to 
restore  and  improve  the  reality  of  representation  by  checking 
corrupt  practices,  by  securing  the  greater  freedom  of  the  pri- 
maries, by  imposing  educational  qualifications  for  the  franchise, 
or  by  introducting  methods  of  proportionate  representation. 
But  the  final  triumph  of  each  or  all  these  reforms  of  repre- 
sentative procedure  is  doubtful.  They  may  result  in  converting 
the  two-party  system  of  England  or  the  United  States  into  the 
multiple-party  system,  into  which  parliamentary  government 
has  lapsed  in  most  continental  countries,  leading  to  the  pro- 
motion of  legislation  by  a  series  of  underground  deals  among 
the  different  groups,  representing  political,  racial,  business,  or 
religious  sects. 

It  is  difficult  to  decide  which  yields  the  worst  results,  a  two- 
party  system  run  by  powerful  party  autocrats  in  the  interest  of 
their  paymasters,  or  the  unstable  group-system  whose  weakness 
forces  government  to  rest  more  and  more  upon  a  powerful  and 
practically  uncontrolled  bureaucracy. 

A  chief  claim  for  the  referendum  is  that  it  weakens  party 
government  and  renders  the  machine  innocuous.  To  the 
orthodox  parliamentarian  this  will  appear  a  perilous  admission, 
for  to  him  party  and  party  organisation  are  essentials  of  good 
government.  Hence  the  language  of  M.  Deploige  on  the 
proposed  referendum  in  Belgium. 

"Parties  are  a  necessity  in  a  parliamentary  system,  and  in 
spite  of  their  exaggerations  and  inconveniences  they  are  a 
distinct  benefit  in  our  country.  They  are  the  intermediaries 
between  the  mass  of  the  electors  and  the  leaders.  They  group 
and  educate  the  citizens,  they  register  the  echoes  of  general 
opinions,  they  subject  complaints  to  a  sifting  process,  they 
recommend  moderation  to  the  turbulent,  and  tabulate  the 
important  matters  in  the  order  which  seems  to  them  most 
useful. 

Once  you  divide  them,  break  up  their  ranks,  and  destroy 


230  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

their  programmes,  you  will  have  deprived  the  people  of  their 
necessary  guides,  and  you  will  only  have  before  you  a  great 
multitude  of  errant  or  indifferent  electors."  1 

To  Americans  who  have  seen  the  most  complete  develop- 
ment of  party  organisation,  M.  Deploige's  rhapsody  will  seem 
a  humorous  travesty.  The  "education"  of  the  citizen,  the 
"moderation,"  the  "intermediation,"  and  above  all  the  "tabu- 
lation" of  important  matters,  "in  the  order  which  seems  to 
them  most  useful,"  are  expressions  which  carry  a  sinister  sig- 
nificance to  students  of  the  American  party  and  its  machine. 
It  is  precisely  because  each  one  of  these  theoretically  service- 
able functions  has  in  practice  become  so  distorted  and  corrupted 
as  to  form  a  separate  menace  to  good  government,  that  sober 
citizens  are  seeking  earnestly  for  methods  of  diminishing  the 
power  of  party.  That  party  systems  and  party  spirit  have 
been  of  immense  value  at  certain  epochs  of  national  develop- 
ment, no  one  will  dispute.  Whenever  and  so  long  as  some 
single  issue  or  line  of  public  policy,  absorbing  the  political 
attention  of  a  people,  divides  them  sharply  into  two  opposing 
camps,  the  necessities  of  the  situation  render  close  party  or- 
ganisation necessary.  But  when  the  dominant  idea  or  prin- 
ciple which  formed  the  cleavage  and  inspired  the  party  has 
died  or  departed,  leaving  the  living  organism  to  lapse  into  the 
form  of  a  machine,  no  longer  tenanted  by  a  soul,  but  driven 
by  forces  generated  from  economic  interests  and  pumped  into 
the  system  to  simulate  a  soul,  each  sort  of  service  party  is 
capable  of  rendering  becomes  a  separate  vice,  the  worst  of  which, 
perhaps,  is  "education." 

Indeed,  quite  apart  from  the  perversion  of  the  party  system, 
a  really  intelligent  democracy  is  inconsistent  with  strong  party 
adhesion.  In  modern  politics,  where  so  many  diverse  issues 
of  importance  involving  different  principles  and  standards  come 
up  for  settlement,  honest  and  intelligent  citizens  cannot  give 

1  p.  xxiv. 


REFERENDUM   AND   INITIATIVE  231 

that  constant  allegiance  to  party  which  was  possible  when  a 
single  principle  or  policy  was  paramount.  Political  education, 
if  it  is  real,  negates  the  possibility  of  such  constant  co-operation 
as  is  required  to  give  validity  to  party.  Indeed,  we  may  go 
further  and  contend  that  the  maintenance  of  an  effective  party 
system  is  inherently  inconsistent  with  real  democracy.  For 
the  kind  of  authority  and  discipline  demanded  for  party  or- 
ganisation emphasises  the  distinction  between  leaders  and 
followers,  and  whatever  formal  provision  may  be  made  for  the 
liberties  of  the  rank  and  file,  the  real  power  will  pass  into  the 
hands  of  "bosses,"  who  will  be  swayed  by  private  interest  or 
by  the  zest  of  the  party  game,  while  the  practical  impotence  of 
the  masses  will  breed  apathy.  If  we  are  to  have  a  really  edu- 
cated live  democracy,  responsibility  must  be  brought  home  to 
the  individual  citizen,  and  this  is  impossible  so  long  as  he  is 
taught  to  lean  on  and  defer  to  party. 

Party  names  and  organisations  have  not  indeed  entirely 
disappeared  in  Switzerland,  but  their  meaning  and  importance 
are  slight.  One  hears  of  Liberals,  Conservatives,  Socialists, 
and  Labour  Men  as  forming  "parties,"  and  giving  a  party  vote 
to  certain  measures.  Something  of  the  same  import  which 
these  names  would  carry  in  America  or  England  adheres  to 
them  in  Switzerland;  but  comparatively  few  citizens  would  be 
described  or  would  describe  themselves  as  "belonging  to"  this 
or  that  party,  and  the  same  holds  of  the  organs  of  the  press, 
which  do  so  much  of  the  "education"  for  which  party  is  sup- 
posed to  stand.  Even  among  politicians  party  allegiance  is 
extremely  loose,  and  excepting  on  certain  few  issues  and  in  the 
less  enlightened  rural  districts,  where  race  and  religious  author- 
ity carry  great  weight,  the  party  vote  is  a  somewhat  incalculable 
quantity. 

Under  the  dominion  of  the  representative  system  the  hier- 
archy of  influences  runs,  party,  men,  measures.  Under  the 
dominion  of  a  sovereign  people  it  runs,  measures,  men,  party. 


232  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

Not  that  there  is  less  political  organization  in  Switzerland  than 
elsewhere.  There  is  more.  But  citizens  group  themselves  in 
leagues,  societies,  or  in  purely  temporary  associations,  for  the 
promotion  of  particular  acts  or  lines  of  policy.  Such  organisa- 
tions, of  course,  are  found  also  under  close  representative  govern- 
ment, but  the  work  is  weakened  by  clashing  with  the  interests 
and  activities  of  party.  In  Switzerland  the  initiators  or  enthu- 
siasts of  an  idea  which  they  wish  to  embody  in  a  public  policy 
can  devote  the  whole  of  the  energy  to  the  single  task  of  educating 
the  electorate.  In  that  work  they  will  not  encounter  the  bitter 
opposition  of  the  party  machinist,  fearful  of  touching  a  project, 
the  popularity  of  which  is  not  assured.  They  cannot  hope  to 
carry  through  their  project  by  cajolery  or  menace  or  log-rolling 
in  the  lobby  of  the  party  convention  or  the  house;  in  order  to 
succeed  they  must  convert  the  people.  They  must,  no  doubt, 
cultivate  the  art  of  compromise;  but  compromise  in  order  to 
conciliate  bodies  of  voters  by  abating  the  asperities  of  a  project 
is,  as  we  have  seen,  essential  to  the  wholesome  action  of  democ- 
racy, and  differs  widely  from  the  baneful  compromises  often 
forced  upon  the  political  managers  of  a  law  in  its  tortuous 
wanderings  through  the  legislative  houses. 

Indeed  no  stronger  argument  for  the  efficacy  of  the  referen- 
dum can  be  found  than  is  afforded  by  a  study  of  the  difference 
in  the  mode  of  "educating"  public  opinion  in  Switzerland  and 
in  the  United  States.  The  vital  difference  is  this.  In  Switzer- 
land the  early  education  is  done  by  men  who  are  genuinely  con- 
vinced of  the  utility  of  their  proposal.  This  was  the  case  in  the 
Nationalisation  of  Railroads  campaign,  the  Alcohol  Monopoly 
campaign,  the  struggle  for  the  Federal  Factory  Law,  etc.  The 
speeches  and  writings  by  which  the  education  was  conducted 
were  directed  to  the  merits  of  the  issue,  and  though  appeals 
were  doubtless  made  both  to  interests  and  prejudices,  both 
sides  of  the  case,  stated  with  ability  and  honesty,  were  pretty 
certain  to  get  to  the  ears  and  eyes  of  the  ordinary  citizen.    It 


REFERENDUM  AND   INITIATIVE  233 

was  necessary  to  persuade  the  citizen  that  this  measure  was 
socially  advantageous,  and  even  if  the  citizen  also  scrutinised 
it  closely  to  see  whether  it  was  a  private  gain  or  damage  to  him- 
himself,  this  is  an  ineradicable  weakness  in  politics. 

In  the  United  States  an  educative  campaign,  to  have  any 
chance  of  success,  must  in  almost  all  cases  be  undertaken  by  a 
party.  Instead  of  going  straight  to  the  people  the  proposers 
of  a  measure  will  go  to  the  party  managers,  the  latter  will  scru- 
tinise it,  not  to  see  whether  it  is  in  itself  sound  and  serviceable, 
but  whether  it  is  capable  of  being  so  presented  as  a  plank  in  the 
party  programme  as  to  evoke  enthusiasm.  If  the  party  takes  it 
up,  the  method  of  education  differs  very  widely  from  that  em- 
ployed under  a  free  democracy.  Education  for  enthusiasm  is 
not  the  same  thing  as  education  for  conviction.  Party  propa- 
ganda distorts  and  exaggerates  everything  it  touches;  appealing 
primarily  to  attached  adherents,  it  need  not  meet  the  arguments 
of  the  opponents,  for  partisans  do  not  listen  to  both  sides.  Even 
if  the  project  is  unpalatable  to  a  section  of  the  party,  it  may  be 
forced  upon  them  as  a  plank  of  the  party  platform.  Accepted 
in  this  spirit  the  legislative  proposal  may  be  made  a  mandate 
to  elected  persons  by  the  votes  of  citizens  who  have  never  given 
any  separate  consideration  to  the  proposal  on  its  merits,  or  who, 
having  considered  it,  object,  but  swallow  their  objection  because 
of  party! 

Now,  under  Swiss  democracy  the  fangs  of  political  corruption, 
operative  through  "the  machine,"  are  drawn.  Trusts,  rail- 
roads, and  other  great  capitalist  organisations  cannot  control 
politics.  It  is  possible  to  "influence"  and  even  to  "buy" 
legislatures,  but  it  is  impossible  to  buy  the  people.  Even  the 
railroad  companies  and  the  distilleries,  two  of  the  most  potent 
business  forces  in  the  country,  could  not  make  a  serious  attempt 
to  tamper  with  the  popular  vote  in  matters  so  important  to  them 
as  the  scale  and  mode  of  compensation  when  their  businesses 
were  nationalised. 


234  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

In  conversation  Herr  Forcer  thus  emphasises  that  fact: 
"  There  is  no  cure  for  the  ills  of  capitalism  so  sure  and  com- 
plete as  democracy.  It  is  absolutely  impossible  to  be  sure  that 
the  people  will  vote  as  you  want  them  to  do.  You  cannot  either 
force  them  or  persuade  them  with  certainty.  Give  the  people 
the  referendum  and  the  initiative;  let  them  vote  often  enough 
on  public  questions,  and  it  will  be  impossible  for  corruption  to 
exist.  Have  a  campaign  once  in  a  while,  have  an  election  of 
representatives  whose  laws  are  not  submitted  to  the  people, 
and  it  may  be  possible  to  corrupt  the  public,  but  not  when  they 
can  vote  five  or  six  times  a  year." 

Concrete  proposals,  not  party,  become  the  basis  of  organisa- 
tion and  of  education  under  direct  democracy.  Leagues  and 
societies  for  the  promotion  of  single  issues  or  lines  of  policy  thus 
tend  to  displace  general  " party"  organisation.  The  political 
machinist  can  no  longer  pump  his  will  down  the  machine,  and 
by  rigging  primaries,  imposing  delegates,  packing  conventions, 
dictating  programmes,  manipulating  committees,  convert  a 
notion  or  an  aspiration  into  a  law  which  the  people  is  bound  on 
penalty  to  obey. 

Neither  can  he  use  the  same  machinery  to  prevent  the  strong 
definite  desire  of  the  majority  from  taking  legislative  form. 
Since  he  can  no  longer  determine  the  fate  of  a  law,  or  the  dis- 
posal of  public  money,  or  the  bestowal  of  lucrative  offices,  or 
procure  immunity  for  breaches  of  the  law,  his  paymasters  will 
no  longer  pay  him  for  goods  he  is  no  longer  able  to  deliver,  and 
so  the  machine  can  no  longer  be  worked  as  a  profit. 

Thus  the  party  system  inevitably  withers  under  the  growth  of 
direct  democracy.  If  the  vote  of  the  entire  people  must  confirm 
every  important  and  contested  act,  if  the  people  can  force  any 
measure  to  the  test  of  a  popular  vote  which  has  legislative 
validity,  the  despotism  of  the  machine  is  broken,  and  party, 
abandoning  the  preposterous  position  it  has  usurped,  resumes 
its  modest  place  as  a  loose  voluntary  association  of  like-minded 


REFERENDUM   AND   INITIATIVE  235 

citizens  working  for  a  common  policy  which  is  wider  and  more 
continuous  than  that  of  separate  leagues  that  devote  themselves 
to  ripening  some  one  concrete  proposal  for  legislative  action. 

The  referendum  and  the  initiative  have  broken  party  govern- 
ment in  Switzerland. 

To  the  stalwart  parliamentarian  this  seems  to  negate  the  con- 
duct of  representative  government.  How  can  ministers  pre- 
serve unity  of  policy  or  even  formulate  with  confidence  a  policy 
at  all,  unless  they  are  assured  of  the  steady  support  of  a  ma- 
jority of  members  of  the  legislative  assembly,  and  how  can  this 
support  be  assured  without  strong  party  organisation  ? 

The  sovereignty  of  the  people,  directly  exercised  in  acts  of 
policy,  neither  demands,  nor  is  consistent  with,  the  doctrine  and 
practice  of  collective  ministerial  responsibility,  as  known  either 
in  the  United  States  or  in  Great  Britain.  The  Swiss  Ministry, 
the  members  of  the  Federal  Council,  though  primarily  ranking 
as  the  executive  authority,  have  important  legislative  functions. 
The  Council  can  draft  and  introduce  legislative  proposals,  and 
can  propose  and  discuss  them  in  the  Assembly,  though  their 
members  have  neither  seats  nor  votes.  In  fact,  the  framing  of 
the  legislative  policy  rests  largely  with  the  Council.  The  latter, 
if  it  is  to  get  through  its  measures,  must,  in  the  first  instance, 
rely  on  the  support  of  a  majority  in  the  two  houses.  But  this 
majority  it  cannot  command  through  the  bond  of  party  alle- 
giance, for  in  the  first  place  there  is  no  presumption  that  the 
Federal  Council  itself  unanimously  approves  the  measure  in- 
troduced by  one  of  its  members  in  its  name,  or  even  that  the 
members  of  the  Federal  Council  are  all  adherents  of  the  same 
party.  If  a  measure  favoured  by  the  Federal  Council 
fails  to  get  the  vote  of  the  houses,  it  may  still  become  law  through 
the  use  of  the  formulated  initiative  and  the  referendum,  while 
the  acceptance  of  the  two  houses  does  not  secure  the  measure 
if,  on  submission  to  the  people,  an  adverse  vote  is  given.  Not 
only  the  loose  condition  of  parties  but  the  exercise  of  direct 


236  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

popular  legislative  power  negatives  the  practice  of  collective 
cabinet  responsibility. 

"The  Federal  Council  represents  no  one  body  in  the  Federal 
Assembly.  It  is  usually  composed  of  members  of  the  left  and 
centre  groups  —  that  is  to  say,  of  Radicals  and  Liberal- Con- 
servatives; but  in  1891  a  member  of  the  extreme  right,  Dr. 
Zemp,  the  clerical  representative  of  Lucerne,  was  elected  Coun- 
cillor, and  in  1894  was  promoted  by  a  three- to-one  vote  of  a 
dominantly  Radical  Assembly  to  the  office  of  President.  Nor 
is  it  even  necessary  that  the  majority  of  the  Council  should 
share  the  opinion  of  the  majority  of  the  Assembly.  From  1876 
to  1883  four  of  the  seven  members  were  Liberals  and  three 
Radicals,  though  the  majority  of  the  people's  representatives 
were  Radicals. 

"It  follows  from  this  non-party  character  that  the  federal 
executive  is  not  expected  to  be  unanimous.  No  measure,  it  is 
true,  may  be  brought  before  the  Assembly  unless  it  has  received 
the  votes  of  the  other  ministers,  but  it  is  a  mere  matter  of  form, 
and  a  Councillor  feels  himself  in  no  way  bound  to  support  a  bill 
of  his  colleague  because  he  has  been  obliging  enough  to  give 
it  his  vote  in  order  that  it  may  be  debated  in  the  Assembly. 
What  is  more,  he  has  no  hesitation  in  opposing  it  openly,  and 
members  of  the  Council  have  even  been  known  to  argue  against 
each  other  in  the  Assembly. 

"To  Englishmen  it  would  seem  impossible  that  an  executive 
made  up  of  persons  of  different  political  views,  and  uncon- 
nected by  any  ties  of  party  loyalty,  should  constitute  a  strong 
and  efficient  administrative  body.  One  would  expect  such  a 
casual  coalition  to  spend  its  time  in  quarrels  and  fruitless  dis- 
cussions. As  a  matter  of  fact,  however,  it  works  very  smoothly. 
This  is  partly  due  to  the  placid  dispositions  of  the  Swiss  Coun- 
cillors and  their  willingness  to  accept  a  compromise.  But  such 
a  result  could  not  be  possible  if  the  Federal  Council  were  in 
any  sense  a  "responsible  Cabinet,"  obliged  themselves  to  lay 


REFERENDUM   AND   INITIATIVE  237 

before  Parliament  and  the  country  a  distinct  policy,  and  ex- 
pected to  resign  collectively  or  individually  if  that  policy  or  any 
part  of  it  were  defeated.  No  idea  of  responsible  leadership 
enters  into  the  relationship  between  the  Federal  Council  and  the 
Federal  Assembly.  Each  minister  is  elected  as  an  executive 
official  to  carry  out  within  his  own  department  the  will  of  the 
Assembly  and  ultimately  of  the  whole  electorate." 1 

In  other  words,  as  the  referendum,  by  destroying  the  technical 
and  moral  strength  of  party,  educates  and  emphasises  the  indi- 
vidual responsibility  of  the  ordinary  citizen,  through  imposing 
on  him  acts  of  judgment  in  concrete  issues  of  policy,  so  it  oper- 
ates similarly  both  in  the  legislative  houses  and  in  the  Federal 
Council.  Members  of  the  House  are  not  impelled  by  con- 
siderations of  party  allegiance  to  subordinate  their  personal 
judgment  upon  the  merits  of  a  measure  to  the  party  view,  speak- 
ing and  voting,  not  according  to  their  freely  formed  opinions, 
but  according  to  the  coercion  of  a  party  whip.  So  in  the 
Federal  Council  the  fact  that  two  or  more  parties  may  be  and 
usually  are  represented  is  a  guarantee  for  the  effective  criticism  of 
measures  which  cannot  exist  where  a  Cabinet  is  drawn  entirely 
from  one  party,  while  the  separate  individual  responsibility  of 
each  minister  enables  each  act  of  policy  to  be  determined  upon 
its  merits,  which  cannot  be  the  case  where  its  adverse  fate  may 
involve  a  party  crisis  and  a  change  of  government. 

As  in  the  general  evolution  of  punishment  a  definite  step  in 
ethical  advance  is  marked  by  the  substitution  of  individual  for 
tribal  or  family  responsibility,  as  embodied  in  the  maxim,  "The 
soul  that  sinneth  it  shall  die,"  so  in  the  sphere  of  politics,  when 
it  becomes  feasible  to  confine  the  responsibility  to  individual 
ministers,  a  similar  ethical  and  political  advance  takes  place. 
When  a  particular  law  is  in  point  of  fact  the  creation  of  an  indi- 
vidual minister,  it  is  unreasonable  and  inexpedient  that  his 

1  Miss  Thom  (Mrs.  Knowles),  Introduction  to  Deploige's  The  Referendum 
in  Switzerland,  p.  xxvi. 


238  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

colleagues,  most  of  whom  may  have  taken  little  actual  share 
in  its  preparation,  and  some  of  whom  may  have  strongly  opposed 
its  main  principles,  should  be  assumed  to  be  in  complete  accord 
with  its  author,  and  to  be  equally  blameworthy  with  him  in 
case  it  turns  out  a  failure.  It  may  well  be  admitted  that  this 
false  pretence  of  unanimity  is  inevitable  under  a  purely  repre- 
sentative system,  but  the  possibility  of  superseding  it  by  a  mode 
of  procedure  which  more  correctly  interprets  the  real  facts 
must  be  accounted  a  great  political  advantage.  The  amount 
and  the  nature  of  the  "  concessions "  involved  in  the  doctrine 
of  collective  ministerial  responsibility  are  felt  to  be  degrading 
by  politicians  of  nice  conscience,  and  serve  to  deprive  the  public 
service  of  some  of  its  most  valuable  servants.  The  same  is  true 
of  the  dominion  of  the  party  system  and  spirit  in  the  houses; 
the  inhibition  of  free  and  fearless  individual  judgment  and  its 
expression  involves  a  similar  perversion  of  truth.  That  a  num- 
ber of  men,  chosen  to  speak  and  vote  in  accordance  with  their 
personal  interpretation  of  the  true  public  interest  involved  in 
acts  of  policy  should  habitually  subordinate  this  duty  to  the 
cause  of  party  is  in  reality  a  mode  of  misrepresentation.  Under 
the  strict  party  system  there  is  upon  each  issue  a  false  dramatisa- 
tion of  judgment  which  presents  two  sharply  antagonistic  views 
instead  of  the  ten,  twelve,  or  twenty  variant  views  which  would 
appear  if  members  were  free  to  form  and  to  express  a  judgment 
of  their  own. 

In  Switzerland,  where  a  ministry  need  not  resign  when  an 
important  measure  drafted  by  it  is  rejected  either  by  the  houses 
or  by  the  nation,  where  even  the  individual  minister  in  charge 
of  the  rejected  measure  can  retain  his  seat,  the  interests  of  the 
public  are  far  better  served  than  by  a  collective  responsibility 
which  implies  either  a  false  unanimity  or  a  frequent  change  of 
personnel. 

It  is,  however,  charged  against  the  Swiss  system  that,  by 
diminishing  the  legislative  power,  enjoyed  by  the  Federal  Coun- 


REFERENDUM   AND   INITIATIVE  239 

cil  and  the  Federal  Assembly,  a  loss  not  merely  of  collective 
but  of  individual  responsibility  is  incurred.  Not  merely  can  a 
member  of  the  government  retain  his  place  after  his  measure 
is  defeated,  but  an  ordinary  member  of  the  Assembly  is  not 
necessarily  rejected  by  his  constituents  at  the  next  election 
because  they  disapprove  of  votes  which  he  has  given. 

If,  upon  the  whole,  they  like  and  trust  their  member,  they 
will  return  him,  though  they  are  aware  that  upon  one  or  more  of 
the  leading  issues  of  the  day  he  does  not  voice  their  view;  for 
when  the  matter  comes  to  the  referendum  they  can  undo  the 
effect  of  his  vote  in  the  Assembly. 

This  seems  to  imply  that  neither  minister  nor  member  wields 
the  same  amount  of  power  as  in  America  or  Great  Britain. 
Able  men  who  value  personal  power,  and  are  qualified  to  use  it 
well,  will,  it  is  argued,  be  reluctant  to  enter  political  life  under 
these  conditions,  while  those  who  are  there  will  view  their 
legislative  functions  too  lightly. 

Nor,  it  is  contended,  is  this  diminished  responsibility  of  repre- 
sentatives compensated  by  increased  responsibility  in  the 
people.  In  a  representative  body  the  members  are  under  the 
eye  of  the  public;  they  are  responsible  and  feel  it.  But  in  a 
vote  of  the  whole  people  every  individual  is  lost  and  people  vote 
by  blind  instinct,  selfishness,  or  passion.  Such  is  the  contention 
of  the  opponents  of  the  referendum. 

The  issue  of  responsibility  is  indeed  a  critical  one.  But  the 
comparative  politics  of  to-day  do  not  support  this  interpreta- 
tion. It  is  not  true,  as  we  have  seen,  that  the  representative 
system  in  America,  or  even  in  Europe,  anywhere  supports  or 
permits  a  high  degree  of  real  responsibility  in  the  individual 
members  of  a  party.  In  particular  the  movement  for  the 
referendum  and  the  initiative  is  everywhere  inspired  by  the 
conviction  of  the  people  that  the  responsibility  of  representa- 
tives is  not  and  cannot  be  secured.  On  the  other  hand,  it  does 
not  appear  that  a  referendum,  as  exercised  in  Switzerland,  is  a 


24o  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

blind  movement  of  a  mob-mind.  Our  inquiry  into  the  history 
of  the  most  important  acts  of  policy  done  by  the  referendum 
shows  that  in  nearly  every  case  a  genuine  education  of  the  elec- 
torate is  involved  and  that  sudden  instinctive  passionate  action 
is  extremely  rare. 

That  a  referendum  of  the  Swiss  people  is  a  fully  enlightened 
expression  of  the  general  will,  embodying  the  keen  responsi- 
bility of  all  or  most  of  its  individual  members,  cannot  be  pre- 
tended. A  considerable  proportion  of  the  more  inert  electors 
do  not  vote.  Indeed  the  large  percentage  who  refuse  to  take 
part  in  the  referendum  is  sometimes  made  a  reproach  against 
it,  though  without  much  reason.  For  when  the  actual  con- 
firmation or  rejection  of  a  law  is  achieved  by  a  vote  which  is 
less  than  half  of  the  total  electorate,  the  general  will  is  none  the 
less  effective.  Those  who  are  too  ignorant  or  indifferent  to 
vote  may  fairly  be  disregarded,  and  the  decision  of  a  majority 
of  actual  voters,  however  small  the  actual  number  of  recorded 
votes  may  be,  is  still  entitled  to  rank  as  the  true  expression  of 
the  national  will.1 

The  altered  attitude  towards  the  responsibility  of  ministers 
and  members  of  Parliament,  which  direct  democracy  has  brought 
about,  has  had  the  beneficial  effect  of  securing  a  far  higher 
continuity  in  political  offices  than  is  possible  under  representa- 
tive government. 

The  Federal  Council  indeed  partakes  very  largely  of  the 
character  of  a  permanent  official  service.  From  1848  to  1895 
there  were  only  thirty- three  Federal  Councillors,  the  average 
period  of  office  being  over  ten  years,  only  two  cases  being 
recorded  of  Councillors  failing  to  obtain  re-election  when  they 
stood  for  it.  The  same  holds,  though  not  quite  to  the  same 
extent,  of  membership  in  the  Federal  Assembly.  It  is  not 
deemed  necessary  to  dismiss  a  valued  and  experienced  public 

1  Analysis  of  the  votings  from  1874  to  1895  shows  that  they  varied  from 
71.9  per  cent  of  the  electorate  to  43.5  per  cent. 


REFERENDUM   AND   INITIATIVE  241 

servant  because  you  disagree  with  some  of  the  votes  he  gives, 
for  the  referendum  enables  you  to  correct  his  errors.  In  1887 
only  forty  per  cent  of  the  seats  were  contested;  in  the  1896 
election  there  were  only  twenty-five  new  members  out  of  one 
hundred  and  sixty  in  the  National  Council,  and  only  eight 
new  members  in  the  Council  of  States.1  This  means  very 
little  excitement  about  elections,  no  elaborate  electioneering, 
no  disturbance  of  business  and  no  corruption. 

The  net  result  is  that  the  legislative  and  executive  functions 
are  mostly  fulfilled  by  men  of  considerable  experience,  and  a 
high  degree  of  continuity  of  administration  is  secured. 

To  a  large  extent,  it  may  be  said,  the  government  is  in  the 
hands  of  "professional  politicians,''  but  the  stigma  which 
attaches  to  this  designation  under  the  party  system,  when  the 
politician  is  a  servant  of  the  machine,  keeping  one  eye  on  the 
"boss,"  the  other  on  the  "spoils,"  entirely  disappears  when 
direct  democracy  has  ousted  the  machine. 

Of  course  it  is  true  that  the  stability  thus  given  to  political 
officers  implies  that  they  are  less  susceptible  to  the  changing 
play  of  public  opinion  than  would  otherwise  be  the  case.  The 
Federal  Council  in  particular  goes  its  own  way,  considering, 
preparing,  and  drafting  measures  to  be  recommended  to  the 
houses,  without  keeping  its  ear  continually  to  the  ground,  or 
calculating  how  the  present  popularity  or  unpopularity  of  a 
proposal  will  operate  at  the  next  elections. 

The  stability  thus  imparted  to  the  elected  officers  goes  very 
far  to  offset  the  diminished  prerogative  in  legislation  which 
the  referendum  and  initiative  imply.  It  is  not  true,  as  is  some- 
times held,  that  the  practical  effect  of  this  popular  exercise  of 
legislative  powers  is  to  reduce  Parliament  to  the  condition  of 
a  mere  advisory  committee  with  no  real  authority. 

Though  the  formal  sovereignty  is  vested  in  the  people,  the 
fact  that  they  can  override  the  decisions  of  the  elected  assem- 

1  Deploige,  pp.  xxviii  and  xxix. 


24*  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

blies  does  not  make  the  debates  and  votes  of  these  bodies 
negligible  factors.  The  assemblies  are  strong,  and  wield  a 
very  genuine  authority,  because  their  members  are  known  and 
respected.  It  follows  indeed  upon  the  continuity  of  office,  and 
from  the  habit  of  close  frequent  contact  with  the  people  which 
direct  democracy  requires,  that  most  important  Swiss  states- 
men are  personally  known  better  and  more  widely  than  is  the 
case  with  the  statesmen  of  other  nations.  Not  only  have  men 
of  the  stamp  of  Numa  Droz  and  Forrer  wielded  a  personal 
authority  in  politics  which,  operative  partly  through  the  elected 
legislature,  partly  by  direct  action  on  the  popular  mind,  is 
probably  as  great  as  that  exercised  by  any  great  party  leader 
such  as  Blaine  in  America  or  Gladstone  in  England,  but  men  of 
the  second  rank  in  light  and  leading  obtain  at  least  as  large  a 
meed  of  influence  and  honour  as  in  those  countries  where  their 
direct  personal  determination  of  political  issues  is  greater. 

Thus  the  referendum  and  initiative,  though  extirpating 
many  of  the  defects  and  abuses  which  party  domination  fastens 
upon  representative  institutions,  does  not  destroy  the  repre- 
sentative system  or  sterilise  its  useful  functions.  So  far  as  it 
is  possible  to  form  a  judgment,  the  Swiss  get  out  of  their  elected 
officers  at  least  as  valuable  services  as  any  other  nation  and 
hold  them  in  as  high  esteem.  The  influence  of  members  of 
the  Legislature  is  primarily  due,  not  so  much  to  the  power 
attaching  to  their  office,  as  to  the  personal  reputation  they 
enjoy  among  their  constituents  and  among  the  nation  at  large; 
for  the  direct  co-operation  of  the  people  with  the  legislative 
assemblies  in  the  making  of  laws  brings  the  representative 
into  close  and  constant  touch  with  his  constituency.  If  he  is 
a  man  whose  knowledge,  experience,  and  judgment  carry  weight, 
his  real  legislative  power  will  not  be  confined  to  his  speech  and 
vote  in  the  Assembly.  When  an  important  issue  is  before  the 
country,  especially  in  the  educative  interval  between  the  passage 
of  a  law  by  the  houses  and  its  submission  to  a  referendum, 


REFERENDUM  AND   INITIATIVE  243 

his  voice  will  be  at  the  service  of  the  electorate  for  exposition 
and  for  conference,  and  the  fact  that  he  is  known  to  be  no  ser- 
vile partisan  whose  seat  and  political  career  will  be  imperilled 
if  the  issue  goes  against  his  party  gives  greater  value  to  his 
counsel  and  enables  him  to  exert  a  larger  measure  of  personal 
influence  in  the  determination  of  the  popular  vote. 

This  brings  us  to  the  true  test  of  democracy  in  Switzerland 
as  elsewhere,  the  question  how  to  secure  the  free  play  of  the 
general  will  expressing  itself  in  concrete  acts  of  government 
through  the  multitudinous  units  of  intelligent  personality. 
Merely  representative  government  is  not  democracy,  however 
wide  the  franchise,  however  proportionate  the  representation, 
because  it  embodies  no  provision  fastening  a  conscious  contin- 
uous responsibility  upon  the  minds  of  the  citizen-voters.  This 
can  only  be  secured  by  associating  the  electorate,  not  with 
some  general  selection  of  members  of  Parliament  at  regular 
or  irregular  intervals  of  several  years,  but  with  the  direct 
distinct  indorsement  of  acts  of  policy.  Defenders  of  the  rep- 
resentative system  are  compelled  to  admit  that  sound  represent- 
ation depends  upon  the  political  intelligence  of  the  electorate 
and  their  realisation  of  the  nature  of  the  legislative  functions 
members  are  called  upon  to  exercise,  as  well  as  upon  their 
general  confidence  in  the  character  of  the  candidate  for  whom 
they  vote.  Now  this  intelligence  and  this  realisation  are  not 
adequately  stimulated  and  sustained  by  mere  participation 
in  the  choice  of  persons  who  are  to  legislate  for  the  people. 
Still  less  is  this  the  case  where  party  organisation  has  such 
control  of  the  electoral  machinery  as  to  designate  the  can- 
didate, select  and  misrepresent  the  issue,  and  fan  the  flame 
of  party  spirit  among  the  electorate.  In  a  representative  par- 
liament thus  elected  there  is  no  adequate  security  that  the 
measures  passed  command  the  free  intelligent  support  of  the 
majority  of  legislators,  still  less  that  they  express  the  will  of 
the  people.     If  government  by  the  people  for  the  people  is 


244  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

desirable,  it  can  only  be  secured  by  giving  the  people  an  effec- 
tive veto  on  the  acts  of  those  to  whom  they  have  accorded  a 
general  power  of  agency,  accompanied  by  an  initiative  enabling 
them  to  compel  consideration  and  submission  of  issues  which 
come  up  in  a  form  or  at  a  time  that  precludes  the  pressure  of 
a  mandate  through  the  ordinary  channels  of  election. 

By  no  other  means  does  it  seem  possible  to  stimulate  that 
intelligent  participation  of  the  people  in  government  which  is 
democracy,  to  ensure  that  any  single  act  of  the  Legislature 
commands  the  support  of  a  majority  of  the  people,  and  so  to 
secure  that  chief  economy  of  political  progress,  the  general 
confidence  in  the  wisdom  and  stability  of  acts  of  policy  that 
are  "broad-based  upon  a  people's  will." 


APPENDIX 

THE  FREQUENCY  OF  VOTING 

Those  who  are  unfamiliar  with  the  working  of  the  referendum 
often  express  alarm  at  the  frequency  of  voting  which  they 
think  it  must  involve.  In  point  of  fact  the  tax  upon  the  ma- 
chinery of  government  and  the  time  and  trouble  of  the  elec- 
torate is  not  heavy.  The  forty- seven  votes  taken  on  federal 
laws  and  amendments  during  the  thirty- two  years,  1 874-1 906, 
involved  only  thirty-four  separate  votings,  just  over  one  per 
annum.  To  these  may  be  added  four  separate  votings  on  the 
six  uses  of  the  initiative. 

Even  in  those  cantons,  the  majority,  in  which  the  compul- 
sory referendum  is  employed,  the  burden,  though  heavier, 
cannot  be  considered  intolerable.  In  Zurich,  for  example, 
there  were  submitted  to  the  people  during  the  years  1869  to 
1893  one  hundred  and  twenty-eight  measures,  ninety-nine  of 
which  were  accepted  and  twenty-nine  rejected.  But  as  a 
rule  these  votes  are  taken  in  batches  at  a  spring  and  an  autumn 


REFERENDUM   AND   INITIATIVE  245 

voting,  three  or  four  laws  being  presented  at  the  same  time. 
In  Berne,  where  the  referendum  is  also  obligatory,  the  people 
voted  on  ninety-seven  cantonal  measures  between  1869  and 
1896. 

The  citizens  also  have  to  vote  upon  municipal  affairs.  The 
burden  of  the  triple  obligation  to  the  commune,  the  canton, 
and  the  Confederation  is,  however,  lightened  in  many  in- 
stances by  an  arrangement  familiar  to  American  voters,  by 
which  a  number  of  votes  affecting  the  several  areas  of  govern- 
ment are  taken  at  the  same  time  and  upon  the  same  voting 
paper.  The  citizen  of  Geneva  or  of  Bale  generally  counts 
upon  six  or  seven  separate  invitations  to  record  his  judgment 
during  the  twelve  months. 


CHAPTER  XV 


THE  FRUITS   OF  DEMOCRACY 


The  account  here  given  of  the  structure  and  working  of  Swiss 
political  institutions  shows  that  the  sovereignty  of  the  people 
is  more  complete,  more  direct,  and  more  effective  in  its  exer- 
cise than  in  the  United  States.  Within  the  individual  state 
there  is  for  the  most  part  no  barrier  upon  the  power  of  an  abso- 
lute majority  to  express  itself  in  legislation,  save  on  such  mat- 
ters as  are  expressly  reserved  for  the  federal  government. 
Neither  Governor  nor  Senate  possesses  any  veto  which  enables 
them  to  thwart  the  desires  of  the  people :  the  refusal  of  one  or 
both  houses  does  not  prevent  the  peoples  in  most  of  the  can- 
tons from  passing  their  laws  through  the  use  of  an  initiative 
and  a  referendum  which  overrides  and  disregards  the  elected 
bodies;  not  only  legislative  but  constitutional  changes  are 
effected  by  the  same  bare  majority. 

In  federal  affairs,  the  maintenance  of  the  concept  of  state 
rights  requires  that  constitutional  changes  should  receive 
the  endorsement  of  a  majority  of  the  states  as  well  as  of  the 
general  electorate,  but  here  too  a  bare  majority  suffices;  and 
this  power  of  the  people  to  effect  constitutional  changes  has, 
through  the  "  formulated  initiative,"  developed  into  a  prac- 
tical power  to  initiate  legislation  which,  though  not  complete, 
goes  very  far  towards  giving  to  the  people  a  competency  of 
legislation  co-ordinate  with,  or,  in  case  of  conflict,  superior  to, 
that  of  the  legislative  assemblies.  The  people  can  in  effect 
legislate  independently  of  the  legislative  assemblies  both  in 
the  cantons  and  the  federation:  no  veto  of  president  or  gov- 

246 


THE  FRUITS  OF  DEMOCRACY  247 

ernor,  or  of  one  *  or  both  of  the  houses,  being  technically  com- 
petent to  check  the  power  of  the  people  to  translate  its  will 
into  law.  When  the  initiative  for  federal  legislation  is,  as  seems 
likely  to  be  the  case,  added  to  the  "formulated  initiative" 
for  constitutional  changes,  the  technique  for  direct  popular 
law-making  will  be  practically  complete.  None  of  the  checks 
which  are  so  potent  in  America  are  here  operative:  there  is 
no  president  or  governor  whose  consent  must  be  won,  no  Su- 
preme Court  to  pass  upon  the  constitutionality  of  laws,  no 
indirectly  elected  Senate  with  specially  reserved  powers  de- 
signed to  check  the  popularly  elected  House ;  no  three  quarters 
majority  of  states  is  required  for  constitutional  amendment. 
Executive  officers  in  Switzerland  are  endowed  with  none  of 
the  dictatorial  powers  they  exercise,  as  president,  governor,  or 
mayor,  in  the  various  governmental  areas  of  America.  Nor 
is  there  any  scrap  of  the  baneful  provisions  for  forming  and 
mechanising  the  free  will  of  the  people  by  forcing  it  to  operate 
through  party  machinery,  which  we  find  in  America.  With 
a  full  and  easy  franchise,  loose  party  attachments,  no  spoils, 
and  temporary  organisation  for  specific  issues,  the  will  of  the 
people  flows  free,  if  not  always  well-informed,  through  the 
broad  provided  channels  of  legislation.  The  referendum  and, 
to  a  less  extent,  the  initiative,  are  definite  calls  to  the  free 
individual  exercise  of  civic  duties  of  a  more  responsible  and 
therefore  a  more  educative  and  ennobling  character  than  the 
party  voting  which  elsewhere  so  commonly  usurps  the  name. 
The  ideal  of  the  Swiss  is  not  to  elect  benevolent  and  honest 
despots,  to  whom  they  shall  transfer  for  long  spells  of  office 
the  duty  of  governing  for  the  people:  the  Swiss  nation  is  to 
govern  for  themselves,  using  officials  just  for  what  they  are 
worth  and  can  be  trusted  to  do. 

We  have  seen  them  during  the  last   half  century  steadily 
and  persistently  moving  towards  a  completion  of  direct  demo- 

1  Eighteen  of  the  cantons  have  single  chambers. 


248  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

cratic  government  in  which  all  matters  of  debatable  policy, 
not  involving  sudden  emergency,  shall  be  determined  by  the 
vote  of  the  people,  the  representative  councils  being  used  as 
consultative  and  preparatory  instead  of  final  legislative  bodies. 
The  same  people  have  also  shown  a  growing  disposition  to 
claim  and  use  the  right  of  modifying  their  constitutions,  so 
as  to  adapt  them  to  the  changing  demands  of  modern  life, 
and  to  elect  their  executive  officers  directly  instead  of  indirectly. 

Endowed  with  these  new  powers,  they  have  employed  them 
to  effect  a  number  of  important  legislative  and  constitutional 
changes  which  have  had  important  reactions  upon  the  polit- 
ical and  economic  structure  of  national  life.  Profoundly 
influenced  by  sentiments  of  local  self-government,  and  sus- 
picious of  any  encroachments  or  even  enlargement  of  the 
federal  power,  they  have  nevertheless  been  led  to  take  a 
number  of  steps  increasing  the  prerogatives  of  the  central 
government  in  matters  involving  not  infrequently  an  actual 
diminution  of  the  governmental  power  of  the  cantons. 

The  driving  force  in  most  of  these  cases  has  been  the  actual 
unity  of  national  interests,  imposed  by  the  new  conditions  of 
transport  and  of  commerce,  breaking  up  the  economic  separa- 
tion of  the  cantons  and  their  once  self-sufficing  valleys.  The 
railroad,  the  telegraph,  the  rise  of  large  manufactures,  the 
tourist  trade,  to  name  the  leading  new  economic  circumstances, 
forced  an  increased  co-operation  of  the  cantons,  involving  a 
reflection  of  this  increased  union  in  the  political  institutions 
of  the  nation.  Swiss  nationalism,  as  a  conscious  factor,  is 
not  particularly  strong,  but  it  is  growing,  and  is  fed  continually 
by  the  new  functions  of  the  federal  government  which  form 
the  chief  outward  and  visible  signs  of  the  new  national  unity. 

Differences  of  race  and  language,  imbedded  in  ancient 
territorial  cleavages,  make  the  process  of  national  fusion  slower 
than  has  been  the  case  in  the  United  States,  so  that  although 
the  activities  of  the  federal  government,  as  compared  with 


THE  FRUITS   OF  DEMOCRACY  249 

tiiose  of  the  state,  are  somewhat  more  numerous,  and  pene- 
trate closer  into  the  workaday  life  of  the  people  than  is  the  case 
in  America,  the  natural  unity  in  Switzerland,  psychologically 
or  sentimentally  considered,  is  less  advanced.  This  doubtless 
is  due  in  no  small  measure  to  the  fact  that  federal  laws  are 
almost  entirely  administered  through  cantonal  officers,  so  that 
in  the  most  impressive  forms  of  judicial  procedure  the  majesty 
of  the  Confederation  is  concealed.  But  the  steady  continual 
growth  of  the  structure  and  functions  of  the  federal  govern- 
ment, and  the  slow  growth  of  national  feeling  that  accompanies 
it,  is  a  first  and  supremely  significant  product  of  Swiss  democ- 
racy. This  significance  is  enhanced  by  the  fact  that  theory 
or  wide-seeing  statecraft  has  had  little  part  in  bringing  it 
about:  the  premature  centralism  of  the  first  Napoleon  was 
speedily  and  almost  wholly  shaken  off.  Each  step  taken  in 
the  march  of  federalism  has  been  taken  on  its  own  account 
and  because  it  seemed  to  yield  definite  practical  advantages 
to  the  majority  of  the  people.  Yet  the  movement  itself,  as 
we  have  seen,  has  not  been  slow  and  has  given  to  the  Swiss 
federal  government  certain  powers  the  lack  of  which  is  a 
grave  source  of  national  weakness  and  waste  to  the  sovereign 
people  of  the  United  States.  The  national  ownership  of  the 
railroads  and  the  national  control  over  industrial  legislation 
are  the  most  important  instances  of  the  superior  federalism 
of  Switzerland,  both  the  direct  first  fruits  of  the  referendum. 
The  other  trend  of  Swiss  democracy  with  its  free  play  of 
popular  legislative  forces  is  towards  carefully  guarded  forms 
of  experimental  socialism.  Alike  in  the  commune,  the  canton, 
and  the  Confederation,  the  power  of  the  people  is  applied  to 
substitute  public  ownership  for  private  monopoly,  to  safeguard 
the  community  in  their  capacity  of  producers  or  consumers 
against  injuries  incident  upon  the  conduct  of  private  business 
enterprise,  and  finally  to  furnish  out  of  public  resources  a  sound 
basis  of  opportunity,  economic  and  intellectual,  to  the  body 


25o  A   SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

of  citizens.  These  three  chief  socialistic  tendencies  of  the 
modern  state  are  represented  in  Switzerland  by  a  variety  of 
legislative  experiments,  set  on  foot  to  meet  some  concrete  griev- 
ance or  to  satisfy  some  definite  felt  want  of  the  people. 

As  a  tributary  to  this  same  stream  of  socialistic  tendency  we 
may  mention  the  progressive  system  of  taxation  adopted  by  a 
growing  number  of  the  cantons,  and  applied  to  income,  property, 
and  inheritance.  When  we  bear  in  mind  the  retention  of 
considerable  portions  of  public  lands  by  the  communes  or  by 
semi-public  trusts,  we  shall  perceive  that  Swiss  democracy 
aims  in  one  way  or  another  at  building  up  bulwarks  of  social 
support  which  prevent  her  citizens  sinking  to  the  economic 
status  of  mere  proletarians,  entirely  dependent  for  the  sub- 
sistence of  themselves  and  their  families  upon  the  precarious 
sale  of  their  labour  power  to  capitalist  employers. 

This  socialism  is  with  them  almost  as  instinctive  and  oppor- 
tunist as  their  federalism.  It  nationalises  the  railroads,  not 
from  any  theory  that  the  general  highways  ought  to  belong  to 
the  people,  but  from  the  slowly  growing  pressure  of  a  number 
of  practical  considerations;  it  undertakes  the  alcohol  trade,  not 
to  stop  drinking,  but  to  check  the  ravages  of  a  particularly 
pernicious  kind  of  spirit;  it  establishes  cantonal  banks,  extends 
factor}'  legislation,  promotes  public  schemes  of  insurance,  to 
meet  the  practical  requirements  of  the  people  in  the  several 
localities. 

The  achievements  and  the  methods  of  this  operative  democ- 
racy, as  exhibited  in  the  meagre  sketch  we  have  been  able  to 
give,  serve  to  furnish  some  plain  indication  of  the  character  of 
the  people.  Here,  after  all,  lies  the  supreme  test.  What  sort 
of  a  people  is  it  that  expresses  its  free  collective  will  through 
the  democracy,  and  what  in  return  is  the  influence  of  the 
democracy  upon  the  character  of  the  nation? 

Some  things  may  be  said  with  certainty.  We  have  not  to 
do  with  a  policy  moulded  and  motived  by  idealists  or  by  bureau- 


THE  FRUITS  OF  DEMOCRACY  251 

cratic  formalists.  Though  notions  of  political  reform,  here  as 
elsewhere,  commonly  take  definite  shape  through  individual 
thinkers  or  statesmen  or  enthusiasts,  they  cannot,  as  is  possible 
in  less  popularly  governed  states,  pass  into  policy  straight  from 
the  hands  of  their  maker  by  a  process  of  authoritative  push. 
Swiss  democracy  is  an  anvil  upon  which  every  project  is  ham- 
mered out  of  its  original  shape  before  it  becomes  law;  it  must 
receive  the  very  impress  of  the  popular  will,  not  merely  through 
the  formal  vote  which  constitutes  it  law,  but  through  the  multi- 
farious handling  of  council,  commission,  and  assembly  needed 
to  mould  it  into  acceptable  shape.  Thus  it  comes  about  that 
such  a  measure  as  the  Alcohol  Monopoly  Law  is  directed  with 
special  provisions,  exceptions,  and  protective  considerations 
designed  to  allay  suspicions,  to  conciliate  interests,  and  to  avert 
antagonism. 

As  a  logical  or  theoretic  product  the  law  suffers,  but  this 
hammering  has  made  it  just  so  much  more  the  creature  of  the 
popular  will  and  the  better  adapted  to  the  actual  work  it  was 
designed  to  do. 

The  ordinary  citizen  is  not  shoemaker  enough  to  cut  and 
make  a  pair  of  boots,  but  he  knows  better  than  any  shoemaker 
whether  the  boots  made  for  him  fit,  he  can  tell  where  the  pinch 
is,  and  will  send  the  boots  back  until  they  have  been  adapted  to 
his  feet.  This  is  the  principle  of  the  referendum;  it  imputes 
no  superstitious  wisdom  to  the  man  in  the  street;  the  latter  is 
no  legislative  expert,  but  he  knows  his  needs  and  those  of  his 
neighbours,  and  he  and  they  know  when  they  are  "suited" 
with  a  law.  Laws  made  under  such  conditions,  like  shoes,  will 
fit  their  wearers  better. 

A  concomitant  but  hardly  less  important  gain  is  that  laws 
are  not  multiplied  needlessly,  turned  out  wholesale  by  a  legis- 
lative machine,  or  (changing  the  metaphor)  spawned  by  a 
low-type  organism. 

The  political  peril  of  a  multiplication  of  laws,  so  amply 


252  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

illustrated  by  the  machine  method  of  certain  American  states, 
is  no  mere  modern  phenomenon.  The  damage  done  when  any 
individual  or  "interest"  with  sufficient  "pull"  can  get  a  law 
put  on  the  statute  book  is  summarised  with  epigrammatic  mor- 
dancy by  Tacitus  when,  writing  of  the  worst  days  of  the  Roman 
Empire,  he  said  "et  in  corruptissima  republica  plurimae  leges." 
In  Switzerland  only  laws  accommodated  to  the  requirements  of 
the  people  are  allowed  to  pass.  Of  course  the  people  sometimes 
make  mistakes.  One  of  the  best  effects  of  a  practical  applica- 
tion of  real  democracy  is  to  dispel  the  illusive  halo  of  false 
sentimentality  with  which  mere  theorists  and  orators  have 
decorated  the  principle  of  popular  government.  If  the  voice 
of  the  people  is  in  Switzerland  "the  voice  of  a  God,"  no  one 
knows  better  than  the  ordinary  Swiss  citizen  what  a  very 
human  sort  of  God  it  is  that  speaks  through  the  popular  vote. 
But  in  collective  as  in  individual  man  the  "divine"  grows  only 
by  process  of  experience. 

If  there  is  ever  to  be  a  noble  type  of  democracy,  it  can  only 
come  from  a  less  noble  form  gradually  evolving  by  the  exercise 
of  freedom  in  those  determinate  acts  of  choice  which  are  the 
making  of  the  social  personality.  It  is  not  difficult  to  find 
flaws  in  the  recent  political  conduct  of  the  Swiss  people:  short- 
sightedness, industrial  class  interest,  religious  bigotry,  cantonal 
jealousy,  that  narrowly  practical  view  of  life  called  materialism, 
have  found  clear  expression  in  not  a  few  popular  decisions. 
An  oligarchy  of  superior  persons  might  have  turned  out  laws 
which  escaped  these  flaws,  but  the  technically  better  law- 
making would  have  been  worse  for  the  people.  A  right  under- 
standing of  democracy  requires  that  the  people  should  be  free 
not  merely  to  make  "good"  laws  but  "bad"  ones,  to  commit 
those  errors  which  express  its  lower  nature  and  to  learn  from 
the  suffering  it  involves. 

Every  moralist  is  familiar  with  this  truth  as  it  applies 
to  the  individual  organism;    though   less  willingly  admitted, 


THE  FRUITS  OF  DEMOCRACY  253 

the  truth  has  the  same  importance  as  a  canon  of  collective 
progress. 

That  Swiss  democracy,  the  outcome  of  the  national  character 
in  its  environment,  produces  wholesome  reactions  on  that 
character,  no  serious  student  of  national  psychology  can  doubt. 
The  consciousness  of  exercising  popular  sovereignty  does  make 
some  difference  even  in  the  bearing  of  the  ordinary  citizen.  In 
the  less  advanced  cantons  among  the  rural  population,  espe- 
cially in  the  Catholic  districts,  there  is  perhaps  as  much  igno- 
rance of  wider  public  issues  as  one  would  find  among  English 
labourers  in  Dorset  or  Berkshire,  though  even  there  the  Swiss 
have  some  real  though  narrow  training  in  the  management  of 
local  affairs  virtually  denied  to  English  peasants.  But  a  very 
large  and  an  ever-growing  proportion  of  Swiss  citizens  main- 
tain a  more  sustained  and  better- informed  interest  in  the 
politics  of  the  canton  and  the  Confederation  than  are  found 
among  the  people  of  corresponding  social  and  economic  status 
in  America  or  England.  Though  the  majority  may  not  take 
their  sovereignty  very  seriously,  it  is  not  possible  for  strangers 
from  less  democratic  lands  to  mix  among  them  without  recog- 
nising that  the  fact  of  this  sovereignty  imparts  a  certain  dignity 
which  is  due  to  the  direct  impact  of  democracy  on  personality. 

Step  from  Geneva  over  the  neighbouring  French  boundary, 
from  one  republic  to  another,  you  seem  to  feel  the  difference 
between  a  self-governing  and  a  bureaucratic  over-centralised 
state.  The  Swiss  character,  as  it  has  been  here  exhibited,  is 
solid  and  practical,  as  becomes  a  people  whose  energy  has 
been  chiefly  engaged  in  winning  a  livelihood  from  a  difficult 
soil,  in  a  trying  climate,  under  natural  conditions  confining 
co-operation  and  commerce  to  narrow  areas.  Civilisation  and 
culture  in  their  full  significance  are  plants  of  slow  growth  in 
such  a  soil.  Connoisseurs  of  culture  will  find  even  the  most 
developed  of  the  Swiss  cities  lacking  in  "joie  de  vivre,"  and  in 
the  more  luxuriant  beauties  of  the  choicest  cities  of  Italy,  France, 


254  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

or  Germany;  though  for  the  general  level  of  comfort,  health, 
good  order,  and  external  equipment,  Geneva,  Zurich,  Lausanne, 
Berne,  and  Bale  are  probably  superior  to  any  other  cities  of 
their  size.  In  the  creative  activities  of  the  fine  arts  and  of 
literature  the  Swiss  do  not  excel,  and  though  scientific  curi- 
osity is  well  cultivated,  it  yields  high  average  products  rather 
than  distinguished  achievements.  There  is  good  reason  to 
regard  the  Swiss  as  sound  ordinary  human  stuff,  evolving  under 
rather  arduous  but  fairly  representative  conditions  towards  a 
type  of  society  which  expresses  no  particularly  favoured  set  of 
circumstances,  such  as  have  given  brief  brilliancy  to  other  small 
states  in  history,  like  Athens  or  Venice,  but  is  indicative  of 
a  slow  popular  self-development  on  a  basis  of  political  and 
economic  equality. 

Normality  is  of  course  always  a  matter  of  degree,  and  it  is 
not  difficult  to  point  out  special  circumstances  favouring  and 
determining  in  peculiar  ways  the  democracy  of  Switzerland. 
But  it  is  right  to  recognise  that  there  is  nothing  in  the  stock  of 
the  Swiss  people  or  their  history  to  justify  us  in  attributing  to 
them  any  special  "genius"  for  " democracy,"  or  in  supposing 
that  what  they  have  done  in  developing  effectively  the  arts  of 
direct  self-government  other  nations  cannot  do.  So  far  as 
" stock"  can  be  said  to  have  been  a  determinant  factor  in  the 
making  of  their  democracy,  it  is  that  Teutonic  stock  which  by 
infusion  and  admixture  is  present  in  so  many  nations  on  the 
European  and  American  continents.  Nor  can  the  inter- 
nationalism or  cosmopolitanism  forced  upon  parts  of  Switzer- 
land during  important  formative  epochs  of  her  history  be  seri- 
ously regarded  as  affecting  the  types  of  her  political  institutions. 
What  is  undoubtedly  to  be  considered  a  condition  of  the  earlier 
ripening  of  genuinely  democratic  forms,  viz.,  the  survival  of 
solid  nuclei  of  political  and  economic  freedom  in  many  of  the 
communes  and  some  of  the  cantons  during  the  dark  ages  of 
feudal  and  later  oligarchic  dominion  throughout  Europe,  does 


THE  FRUITS  OF  DEMOCRACY  255 

not  affect  the  ultimate  and  supremely  important  question,  how 
far  the  forms  of  direct  democracy  which  are  blossoming  in 
modern  Switzerland  can  be  taken  as  normal  fruits  of  the  com- 
mon spirit  of  democracy,  to  be  followed,  not  in  slavish  imita- 
tion but  in  free  adaptation,  by  other  nations  following  the  same 
course  of  evolution. 

Switzerland  has  been  more  fortunate  than  other  countries 
in  conserving  some  of  the  germs  of  democratic  institutions 
adapted  to  modern  popular  needs  and  in  ripening  them  in  due 
season.  Do  not  let  us  be  deterred  from  recognising  in  these 
products  whatever  they  contain  of  common  advantage  for  our 
democracy.  There  is  a  school  of  political  thinkers  whose  cul- 
tivated opportunism,  masquerading  as  patriotism,  leads  them 
to  develop  a  doctrine,  that  each  nation  has  an  entirely  different 
set  of  political  problems  to  solve,  that  each  of  these  must  be 
treated  separately  upon  its  own  merits,  and  that  we  can  learn 
little  and  apply  practically  nothing  of  what  has  happened  to 
other  nations.  Now  this  is  an  essentially  false  and  injurious 
doctrine,  inimical  to  true  nationalism,  in  depriving  us  of  the 
free  use  of  the  example  of  other  nations,  and  still  more  inimical 
to  that  wider  and  stronger  internationalism  which  is  fed  by  a 
sense  of  community  of  human  needs  and  modes  of  satisfaction 
and  the  fuller  intercourse  involved. 

The  likeness  in  mankind  is  incomparably  greater  than  the 
difference,  and  this  prime  principle  of  human  equality  applies 
to  nations  and  their  histories  as  to  individuals.  The  notion 
that  a  new  nation  may  safely  and  conveniently  go  its  own  gait, 
working  out  a  free  destiny  in  the  void  of  history,  is  indeed  a 
fatuous  form  of  insolence,  involving  a  heavy  penalty  in  waste 
of  progress  if  not  in  tragical  disaster. 

But  Switzerland  we  are  told  is  "such  a  little  one'';  modes 
of  government  suit  her  that  must  ipso  facto  be  unsuitable  in  such 
a  country  as  the  United  States,  or  even  in  Great  Britain  with  its 
great  congested  population  of  town  dwellers.    That  size  makes 


256  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

a  difference  in  the  applicability  of  political  forms  is  a  general 
truth  which  is  beyond  dispute;  but  this  admission  by  no  means 
involves  the  judgment  that  any  political  institution  which  is 
found  to  work  well  upon  a  small  scale  must  work  ill  on  a  large 
scale.  The  size  of  a  country  or  a  population  is  sometimes  as 
irrelevant  a  consideration  as  the  size  of  an  individual.  One 
does  not  conclude  that  because  alcohol  is  a  noxious  beverage 
for  little  men  it  must  be  wholesome  for  big  men.  Similarly,  the 
assumption  that  because  the  referendum  succeeds  in  Switzer- 
land it  would  fail  in  the  United  States  is  quite  unwarranted. 
The  truth  seems  to  be  that  the  ballot  is  the  most  expansive  of 
political  inventions,  an  increase  of  area  involving  very  little 
increased  complexity  of  use  or  irregularity  of  result. 

Moreover,  the  argument  for  an  extended  and  regular  use  of 
the  referendum  and  the  initiative  in  a  working  democracy  is  no 
mere  plea  for  the  preference  of  one  method  or  instrument.  It 
is  a  plea  for  the  application  of  a  principle,  that  of  direct  as 
opposed  to  indirect  participation  of  the  body  of  citizens  in  the 
critical  determinant  acts  of  government. 

The  size  of  a  nation  and  the  complexity  of  its  public  affairs 
may  be  good  grounds  for  safeguarding  the  application  of  the 
principle  of  popular  sovereignty  lest  the  people  should  be  unduly 
burdened  and  bewildered  with  the  numerous  or  improper  calls 
upon  its  judgment;  they  cannot  be  grounds  for  denying  it  the 
opportunity  of  direct  separate  decision  upon  the  crucial  acts  of 
its  political  career. 

It  may,  however,  be  frankly  conceded  that  some  of  the  con- 
spicuous and  most  admirable  traits  of  Swiss  democracy  are 
directly  traceable  to  the  smallness  of  the  nation.  It  is  a  deep- 
seated  illusion  to  suppose  that  either  the  future  or  the  present 
lies  with  great  empires.  At  present  the  most  highly  civilised 
nations  of  the  world,  if  we  test  civilisation  by  the  culture  of  its 
inhabitants  and  their  capacity  for  orderly  and  progressive 
government,  securing  substantial  justice  and  equality  of  oppor- 


THE  FRUITS  OF  DEMOCRACY  257 

tunity  for  all,  are  the  small  peoples  of  the  old  and  new  worlds. 
In  Europe  we  have  more  to  learn  that  is  worth  learning  from 
Denmark,  Holland,  Sweden,  and  Switzerland  than  from  the 
great  empires,  and  in  the  new  it  is  New  Zealand  that  yields 
most  true  light  and  leading  along  the  path  of  real  democracy. 

It  is  natural  that  Switzerland  should  get  a  better  and  a  fuller 
use  out  of  her  democratic  institutions  than  Great  Britain,  France, 
or  the  United  States.  For  it  has  no  policy  of  territorial  expan- 
sion to  waste  the  energy  and  to  corrupt  the  character  of  its 
people,  and  no  great  speculative  sources  of  wealth  to  strangle 
honest  industry. 

Happy  Switzerland!  It  has  no  coast,  no  navy,  no  colonies, 
no  empire,  no  masses,  no  new  wealth  and  very  little  old  wealth, 
no  trusts  and  no  departmental  stores,  and  though  some  of  the 
internal  troubles  which  beset  other  civilisations  may  arise  here, 
the  power  of  the  people  will  be  better  able  to  cope  with  them. 
Confined  within  the  narrow  limits  of  her  little  land  she  is  forced 
to  concentrate  her  energy  upon  her  internal  resources.  Here 
we  have  a  key-note  to  the  genuineness  of  her  democracy,  the 
counter-foil  of  the  infinities  of  the  great  nations.  While  the 
aristocrats  of  England  and  the  millionnaires  of  America  are 
crushing  together  an  entire  vintage  of  greed  —  red,  black,  white, 
yellow — in  the  imperialism  which  uses  union  to  teach  undying 
hatred,  the  Swiss  are  giving  the  finest  example  to  be  found  in 
all  history  of  the  union  of  races  in  peace  through  mutual  respect 
and  reciprocity,  democracy,  the  free  expression  of  different 
races. 

We  have  said  that  the  Swiss  are  not  pre-eminently  idealists 
or  sentimentalists,  even  in  the  better  significance  of  those  words. 
Yet  they  realise  better  ideals  and  truer  sentiments  than  other 
nations  more  advanced  in  the  material  arts  of  civilisation. 

Education,  liberality  of  mind,  a  peaceable  disposition  and  a 
regard  for  the  rights  of  other  nations  are  necessary  qualities  for 
their  survival   and   well-being.    The  value  set  by  the  Swiss 


2S8  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

people  upon  knowledge,  not  only  science  but  history  and  "the 
humanities,"  is  well  attested  by  the  splendid  simplicity  of  the 
inscription  which  stands  on  the  portico  of  the  principal  edifice 
of  Geneva  University:  "Le  peuple  de  Geneve  en  consecrant 
cet  edifice  aux  Etudes  sup6rieures  rend  hommage  aux  bienfaits 
de  Pinstruction,  garantie  fondamentale  de  ses  libertes."1 

People  say  that  Switzerland  and  New  Zealand  could  do 
"these  things"  because  they  were  small  countries.  But 
"these  things"  are  things  all  people  must  do  if  they  are  to 
survive  —  that  is,  survive  as  democracies.  Evidently,  there- 
fore, we  must  make  ourselves  "  small  countries,"  i.e.,  countries 
in  which  the  citizens  know  one  another;  in  which  their  affairs 
are  within  their  comprehension,  imagination,  and  control;  in 
which  the  centre  is  not  out  of  reach  of  those  on  the  circum- 
ference; in  which  the  machinery  is  not  so  massive  that  the 
mind  and  the  hand  of  the  common  people  cannot  grasp  it. 

This  is  the  secret  of  the  cry  which  has  arisen  in  every  age  of 
democratic  renaissance  for  decentralization,  home  rule,  sim- 
plicity, etc.  In  our  corporations,  in  the  church,  in  the  English 
co-operative  movement,  in  New  York  politics,  everywhere  that 
organisation  exists,  there  comes  on  this  struggle  between  the 
two  tendencies:  to  centralise,  to  decentralise;  to  usurp,  to  free; 
to  integrate,  to  disintegrate. 

We  can  have  centralisation  safely  only  if,  at  the  same  moment 
as  we  aggrandize  and  develop  the  centre,  we  aggrandize  and 
develop  the  individual  in  himself  and  in  his  control  of  the  centre. 
We  need  not  hope,  need  not  even  wish  to  achieve  equilibrium. 

When  this  contest  between  the  opposing  forces  is  ended  it 
will  be  because  death  has  come.  When  the  centre  is  too  weak, 
as  it  was  in  the  American  Confederation,  a  strong  centralising 
movement  will  spring  up.    When  the  centre  is  too  strong,  as  it 

1 "  The  People  of  Geneva  in  consecrating  this  building  to  the  higher 
studies,  render  homage  to  the  benefits  of  Education  as  the  fundamental  guar- 
anty of  its  liberties." 


THE  FRUITS   OF  DEMOCRACY  259 

is  to-day,  in  all  our  political  parties  and  in  the  government  of 
our  corporations,  there  will  arise  spontaneous  movements  to 
protect  the  rights  of  stockholders,  and  through  rehabilitation 
and  the  primaries,  and  in  other  ways,  to  make  the  people  masters 
again  of  their  own  political  machinery. 

For  these  purposes,  in  all  fields  of  association,  —  not  in  the 
political  alone,  but  in  churches,  corporations,  clubs,  societies, 
wherever  organisation  is  used  as  a  vehicle  for  a  common  energy, 
—  no  method  seems  so  adapted  to  kill  the  efforts  of  the  ambi- 
tious, the  unscrupulous,  and  the  too  good,  to  fortify  themselves 
in  the  centre,  as  this  institution  perfected  and  perpetuated  by 
these  simple  mountaineers.  By  this  simple  and  ancient  device 
they  have  kept  burning  for  centuries  a  more  vital  democracy 
than  can  be  seen  anywhere  else.  By  this  institution  the  individ- 
ual knows  himself  to  be  at  once  an  independent  and  efficient  unit 
of  the  centre  and  circumference.  If  more  force  is  needed  at  the 
centre  he  gives  it  and  in  submitting  to  it,  knows  that  he  is  in- 
telligently and  as  a  free  citizen  submitting  only  to  his  own 
authority  co-operatively  with  that  of  other  equal  individuals. 

If  more  independency  is  needed  by  the  individual,  the  com- 
mune, the  canton,  he  withdraws  the  needed  amount  by  recalling 
his  representative,  by  proposing  and  passing  a  law,  by  amending 
the  Constitution.  With  this  instrument  he  can  prevent  the 
clique,  cabal,  ring,  junta,  usurper,  more  clearly  than  is  possible 
anywhere  else.  In  no  other  country  in  the  world,  not  even  in 
paradisical  New  Zealand,  is  the  citizen  so  thoroughly  an  indi- 
vidual as  in  Switzerland.  The  Swiss  is  proudly  conscious  that 
in  himself  he  is  not  only  voter,  but  official;  he  can  feel  in  himself 
that  he  is  part  president;  part  senator;  etc.  The  state  of  mind 
of  an  Englishman  who  worships  a  king,  or  of  an  American  who 
speaks  as  Long  did  of  "the  President  under  whose  Majesty"; 
or  of  a  public  like  that  of  New  York  which  cannot  have  its 
street  railroad  tunnel  made  safe  for  itself;  or  of  a  people  who 
lament  that  they  are  powerless  to  rule  their  own  party  or  their 


26o  A  SOVEREIGN  PEOPLE 

own  city,  is  unthinkable  to  a  Swiss.  The  Swiss  people  are 
very  crude  in  many  things:  their  economic  condition  is  much 
depressed;  they  have  a  bad  political  economy;  they  treat  their 
women,  if  not  shamefully,  without  the  least  concession  of  the 
democratic  right  and  individuality  they  claim  for  themselves. 
But  at  least  in  this  matter  of  keeping  balanced  the  respective 
power  of  the  individual  and  organisation,  preventing  usurpa- 
tions, keeping  the  social  servant  a  servant,  though  he  would  as 
gladly  become  master  as  any  other  servant,  the  Swiss  are  ahead 
of  the  world,  and  have  achieved  one  of  those  perfections  of 
structure  which  in  the  social  biology  must  be  regarded  as  a 
''final  form,"  as  the  structure  of  man  is  a  "final  form"  in  the 
animal  physiology. 


REFERENCES 

Die  Arbeiter-Schutz-Gesetzebung  der  Schweiz.    Dr.  T.  Landmann. 

Die  Erweiterung  des  Volksrechts. 

Geschichte  der  Schweiz.    Danklicker. 

Governments  and  Parties.    Lowell. 

Handworterbuch  der  Schweizerischen  Volkswirthschajt.    Dr.  Kistler. 

Leitfaden  fiir  die  Sektionen  und  Mitglieder  des  Griitli-Vereins.     1900. 

Pure  Democracy  and  Pastoral  Life  in  Inner  Rhodes.    T.  Irving  Richman. 

Social  Switzerland.    W.  H.  Dawson. 

The  Growth  of  the  English  Constitution.    Professor  Freeman. 

The  Referendum  in  Switzerland.    Deploige. 

The  Rise  of  the  Swiss  Republic.    McCrackan. 

The  Swiss  Republic.    Winchester. 


261 


INDEX 


Aargau,  adopts  initiative  in  1852,  66. 

child  labour,  128. 

conquered  by  Confederation,  16. 

labour  legislation,  129. 
Act  of  Mediation,  21,  59. 
Africa,  127. 
Agriculture,  5,  114. 
Alamanni,  9. 
Alcohol,  administration  of  law,  117. 

adulteration  checked,  123. 

cheap  spirits  for  industrial  use,  123. 

closing    of   small    distilleries,    com- 
pensation to  owners,  117. 

distilleries  under  supervision,  prices, 
profits,  118. 

duty  raised  on  spirits,  lowered  on 
wines,  beers  and  cider,  116. 

exemptions  from  law,  117,  123. 

federal  control  of  supply,  26. 

government  distribution,  119. 

government    monopoly    of    manu- 
facture, 26,  113,  115,  116. 

graded  license,  122. 

law  on  manufacture  and  distribu- 
tion, 117. 

less  drunkenness,   124. 

license  of  distilleries,  117. 

municipal  monopoly  of  retail  trade 
in  Bale,  122. 

no  prohibition,  125. 

price  of  spirits  fixed  by  law,  cost 
price  for  technical  arts,  119. 

profits  divided  among  cantons,  120. 

proposals  of  Federal  Council,  115. 

quality  raised,  decrease  of  quantity 
sold,  120. 

referendum    on    government    mo- 
nopoly, 117. 

regulation  of  liquor  traffic  by  can- 
tons till  1890,  115. 

retail  licenses,  114. 

retail  trade  private,  under  regula- 
tion of  cantons,  119. 

taxes   levied    by    Confederation    to 
be  divided  among  cantons,  116. 


treatment  of  employees,  118. 

use  made  of  profits,  121. 
Allmend,  10,  14,  33,  36,  37,  145,  161. 
America,  checks  on  legislation,  247. 

party  rule  in,  193,  218,  231,  247. 

representative  system  in,  247. 
American  Civil  War,  23. 
American  Federal  Constitution,  23. 
Amman,  45,  63. 
Appenzell,  district  government,  41. 

joins  Confederation  in  1513,  17. 

Landsgemeinde  in,  48,  53,  54,  55. 
Arbeiterbund,   188. 
Arbitration,  see  Labour. 
Asia,  127. 

Asile  des  Veillards,  146. 
Athens,  254. 
Augustine,  149. 
Austria,  conflict  with  Berne,  13. 

enters  into   alliance  with   Catholic 
cantons,  18. 

regulation  of  work-day  in,  152. 

Bale,  adoption  of  referendum,  63. 

child  labour,  128. 

co-operation,  177,  178. 

joins  Confederation  in  1501,   17. 

municipal  retail  liquor  trade,   122. 

municipal  works,  164,  168,  171. 

Peace  of,  in  1499,  17. 
Belgium,  229. 
Berne,  aristocratic  cliques,  15. 

conflict    with    Austria;    victory    of 
Laupen  1339,  13. 

election  methods,  43. 

free  City  of   Empire,  joins  Forest 
<         State  League  in  1353,  13. 

inviolability  of  territory,   14. 

municipal  housing,  168. 

Municipal  Unemployed  Insurance, 

i43- 
municipal  works,  164,  171. 
owns  railroads,  90. 
rise  of  burgher  nobility,  19. 
separate  alliance  with  Zurich,  18. 


263 


264 


INDEX 


Biel,  municipal  works,  164,  171. 

Birmingham,  162. 

Bismarck,  136. 

Blaine,  242. 

Boards  of  Guardians,  45. 

Buda  Pesth,  182. 

Bundesrath,  215. 

Burgher  corporations,  35,  37,  38. 

Burgundians,  9. 

Burial,  free,  170. 

Brun,  leader  of  the  people,  13. 

Calvin,  18. 

Canton  sovereignty,  21. 

Cantonal  constitutions,  21,  60,  65,  68. 

Cantonal  Council,  85,  86. 

Cantons  vote  on  factory  law,  132. 

withdraw  from  Federal  Diet,  22. 
Capitalism,  dangers  of,  less  on  account 
of  federal  and  municipal  owner- 
ship, 204-206. 

failure  of  democracy  under,  six. 
Catholic  Cantons,  3,  18,  25. 

League  of,  in  1845,  23. 
Catholic  Church  (Roman),  18. 
Catholic  Party,  100. 
Centralists,  21. 
Chamber  of  Appeal,  155. 
Chicago,  162. 
Cities,  growth  of,  162. 

largest  industrial,  5. 

liberty  of,  167. 
Class,  consciousness,  197,  201. 

interests,  59-61,  202,  203. 

struggle,  195. 

supremacy,   189. 

war,  196,  199,  204. 
Climate,  3. 

Commission  of  State,  43. 
Communal     Assembly,     how     elected, 
functions  and  power  of,  42,  43, 

45- 
Communal  Council,  duties  of  President 
and  Secretary,  45. 
election  and  functions,  42-44,  46. 
Communal  democracy,  169. 
Communal  care  of  the  poor,  34,  37. 
Communal  property,   administration  of, 
38. 
encroachments  of  rights  by  burgher 

corporations,  35. 
modifies    evils    of   factory   system; 

applied  to  public  welfare,  38. 
new  burghers  do  not  share  in,  35. 
rights  and  regulation  of,  34,  35. 


value  of,  and  tendency  to  convert 
into  individual  property,  37. 
Communal  rights,  36,  37. 
Communes,  church,  42. 

civil,  41,  42. 

independent  organisation  of,  43. 

local  self-government,  32,  33. 

political,  35,  42. 

poor  law,  41. 

popular,  42. 

school,  40. 

unit  of  government;  increased  politi- 
cal and  social  power,  39,  40. 
Compulsory  Insurance  scheme,  144. 
Conciliation,  see  Labour. 
Concordat,  130. 
Confederation,  of  three  Forest  Cantons, 

Berne  joins  in  1353,  completes  the 
eight  cantons  of  the  early  Con- 
federation, 14. 

conquest  of  Aargau  cause  of  civil 
wars,  16. 

Diets  held,  have  no  executive  power, 

17- 

effect  of  Reformation,  18. 

eight  cantons  added  to,  21. 

equal  political  rights,  21. 

establishes  optional  referendum, 
1874,  64. 

Federal  Pact  of  August,  181 5,  be- 
ginning of  modern  democratic, 
21. 

federal  power  of,  77. 

First    Perpetual   League,   in    1291, 

Freiburg  and  Solothurm  join  148 1, 
Schaffhausen  and  Bale,  1501, 
Appenzell,  15 13,  17. 

guards  political  independence  from 
Austria,  14. 

Luzerne  joins,  12. 

organised  into  Federal  state,  23. 

politically  independent  from  Em- 
pire, 17. 

power  of  President,  86. 

protection  to  Appenzell,  Graubiin- 
den  and  Valais,  16. 

separate  alliances,  no  central  govern- 
ment, 15. 

tyrannical  rule  of,  19,  20. 
Congress    of   Swiss  Communal  Union, 

"5- 
Congress  of  Vienna,  21. 
Conseil  Communale,  167. 


INDEX 


265 


Conseils  de  Prudhommes,  154,  155,  156 

158. 
Conservative  Right  party,  100. 
Constitution,   amendment   of    1874,  on 
industrial  legislation,  130. 

amendment  of  1885,  right  to  legis- 
late on  manufacture  and  sale  of 
spirits,  116. 

amendment  of  1890,  on  accident 
and  invalid  insurance,  148. 

amendment  of  1891,  confers  power 
of  partial  revision,  77-78. 

amendments,  26,  69-71. 

cantonal,  changes  require  majority 
vote  of  the  people;  Federal, 
changes  are  subject  to  the  rati- 
fication of  the  people  and  the 
cantons,  212. 

forbids  partition  of  communal  lands, 
38. 

law  on  revisions,  25,  68,  212. 

new,  establishes  permanent  Diet, 
increases  Federal  authority,  21. 

of  1848,  24,  115,  188. 

of  1874,  legislative  powers,  76-80, 
136,  137,  220. 

qualifications  of  voters,  42. 

reconstruction  of,  in  1848,  23. 

revision  in  1874,  24. 

revision  of  Cantonal,  1830;  of 
Federal,  1832,  22. 

right  of  the  people  to  change,  65. 

struggle  between  Federalists  and 
Centralists,  21. 

vote  on  new,  24. 
Constitution  of  Helvetic  Republic,  20,  38. 
Consumers'  Co-operative  Society,  176. 
Co-operation,  175. 

Belgian,  181. 

growth  of,  176,  177. 

in  politics,  181. 
Co-operative  associations,  197. 

Congress,  national  and  inter- 
national, 182. 

distribution;  library,  manufacture  at 
minimum  cost,  178. 

dividend,  179,  180. 

English  and  Scotch  Wholesale,  177. 

English  movement,   175,   179,  258. 

members,  176,  177. 

prices,  178,  180. 

production,  consumers'  movement, 
179. 

profit-sharing,  179. 

propaganda,  180,  181, 


publications,  181. 

rural  societies,  180. 

stores,  175-179,  188. 

Swiss  and  British  method,  179. 

Union,  175,  177. 

Wholesale  Society,  178,  180. 
Cornaz,  94. 
Court  of  Justice,  155. 
Covenant  of  Sempach,  15. 
Covenant  of  Stans,  17. 
Curti,  94. 

Danklicker,  15. 
Dawson,  W.  H.,  146,  147, 
Democratic  institutions,  test  of,  126. 
Democracy,  Swiss,  adapted  to  modern 
conditions,  5. 

advantages  of,  257. 

an  example  to  other  nations,  255, 

257- 
attitude  towards  representative  in- 
stitutions, 29. 
"bourgeois,"  185,  187,  201. 
compromise  in,  184. 
decay  of,  in  16th  and  17th  centuries, 

19,  20. 
direct   participation   of  citizen;   no 

party  rule;  no  highly  centralised 

government,  7. 
diversity  and  growth,  5,  6. 
effect    on    national    character    and 

citizenship,  253. 
free  and  co-operative,  7,  8. 
increased  power  of  the  people,  84. 
individual  initiative  under,  175. 
local,  S3. 
makes  laws  to  fit  the  needs  of  the 

people,  251. 
not  due  to  racial  traits,  254. 
not  revolutionary,  196. 
people  retain  direct  control,  28. 
practical,  not  theoretical,  104,  105, 

in,  251. 
preserved  and  strengthened  by  early 

confederation,  14. 
safest  from  betrayal,  211. 
union  by  separate  alliances,  15. 
Denmark,  257. 
Department  of  Railways  and  Commerce, 

entrusted    with    industrial    legis- 
lation, 130. 
Deploige,  quoted,  63,  64,  76,  214,  229, 

230. 
Direct  government  of  popular  assembly, 

32. 


266 


INDEX 


Direct    Legislation,    see    Initiative    and 

Referendum. 
Distilleries,  see  Alcohol. 
Drink  habit,  abstinence  party,  124. 

difficulty  in  dealing  with,  122,  124. 

drunkenness  reduced,  124. 

efforts  to  check,  116. 

no  prohibition  laws,  125. 

sale  of  absinthe  prohibited  in  Vaud, 
125- 

spread  of,  114,  116. 
Droz,  Numa,  100,  242. 

Education  —  advanced  technical  and  in- 
dustrial, 167,  168,  169. 

medical  inspection,  in  schools,  169. 

Polytechnic  schools,  industrial  and 
commercial  museums,  168. 

regulation    of    school    attendance, 

150.  IS*- 

school  system  vested  in  the  com- 
mune; school  communes,  40,  41. 

under  canton  and  federal   control, 

27,  77- 
Einwohner-Gemeinde,  40. 
Einwohner  Gemeinde  Rat,  44. 
Election  —  methods,  43,  44,  83,  212,  213. 
by  referendum,  82. 
executive    officers    elected    by    the 

people,  212,  213. 
in  Landsgemeinde,  51. 
members  of  the  Legislature  and  of 
Swiss    National    Council    elected 
by  the  people,  212. 
of  Communal  Council,  44. 
of  Federal  Executive  Council,  215. 
of  judicial  officers,  213. 
of  Senator,  54. 
of  State  Council,  86,  213. 
Engels,  188. 

England,  167,  193,  196,  231,  253. 
Executive    officers    not    endowed    with 
dictatorial  powers,  247. 

Factory,  system,  see  Labour. 
Federal  Act  of  1874,  185. 
Federal  Agreement,  22,  60. 
Federal  Assembly,  decides  on  rights  of 
constitutional  initiative,  67. 
decides  whether  a  proposal  is  a  law 

or  decree,  80,  84. 
duties  of,  in  constitutional  revisions, 

78. 
rights  of,  in  constitutional  amend- 
ments, 25,  26. 


Federal  Council,  adopts  proposal  of  state 
railways,  89. 
adopts  resolutions  limiting  the  hours 

of  railway  workers,  135. 
duties  of,  82,  235. 
Federal  President,  chairman  of,  86. 
investigates  match  industry,  134. 
its    members    belong    to    different 

political  parties,  236,  237. 
on  purchase  of  railways,  92-94,  96- 

98,  104. 
publishes      and      circulates      laws 

passed  by  the  Assembly,  81. 
stability  of  office,  240,  241. 
Federal  debt,  27. 

Federal  decrees,  Federal  Assembly  de- 
cides   whether   a    proposal    is    a 
law  or  decree,  80,  81. 
Federal  Diet,  17,  21,  22. 
Federal  Executive  Council,  215. 
Federal  Government,  powers  enlarged, 

23,  26-28. 
Federal  laws,  76,  77. 
Federal   Tribunal,    elected    by   Federal 
Assembly,  86. 
has  no  power  to  declare  laws  passed 
unconstitutional,  87. 
Federalists,  21,  100. 
Feudal  system,  10. 
First  Perpetual  League,  12. 
Food  Inspection  Bill  of  1906,  187. 
Forest  States  or  cantons,  10,  13,  14,  18. 
Forrer,  148,  234,  242. 
Freeman,  Professor,  49. 
Freiburg,  joins  Confederation  148 1,  17. 
representative  system  in,  212. 
rise  of  burgher  nobility,  19, 
France,  22,  104,  124,  125,  145,  151,  152, 

181,  196,  253,  257. 
Franchise,  extension  of,  60,  82,  247. 

protection  of,  77. 
French  Republic,  21. 
French  Revolution,  20. 
Frey,  Emil,  212. 
Furstenberger,  149. 

Galeer,  Albert,  187. 

Gau,  or  county,  9. 

Geneva,  canton  created  by  Congress  of 

Vienna,  21. 
municipal  works,  164,  172. 
Gengel,  213. 
Germany,  145,  147,  152,  181,  195,  196, 

201,  204,  206. 
Gladstone,  242. 


INDEX 


267 


Glarus,  joins  First  Perpetual  League,  13. 

labour  legislation,  1 29. 

Landsgemeinde,  48,  51,  55. 

limits  hours  of  labour,  128. 

rule  of  people,  15. 
Government  ownership,  see  also  alcohol; 
railroads. 

alcohol,  gunpowder,  26. 

extent  of,  205. 

post  office,  telegraphs,  railroads,  27. 

Grand  Council  or  Great  Council  —  all 

measures    to    be    presented    to 

Landsgemeinde,    must    be    first 

sent  and  passed  upon  by,  53,  54. 

dissolution,  85. 

duties  of,  in  constitutional  revisions, 
69-74. 

legislative  power  of,  60,  61. 

powers  limited,  54,  63. 

referendum  at  the  option  of,  64. 
Great  Britain,  153,  166,  204,  206,  218, 

235.  239,  254,  255,  257. 
Griitli-Verein  —  chief  socialistic  organi- 
sation, 187. 

educational  and  social,  191. 

free  from  party  control,  193. 

origin  and  early  purpose,  187,  188. 

political  activity,  190-192. 

Right  to  Labour,  197. 

unique  position  of,  192. 
Guyer-Zeller,  100. 

Helvetia,  9. 
Helvetic  League,  58. 
High  Court,  86. 
Hoffman,  Dr.,  144. 
Holland,  257. 
Houses  of  Assembly,  80. 

Imperialism,  16,  257. 
Industrial  Courts,  156,  158. 
disputes  settled  by,  160. 
Industrial    Legislation,  Cantonal   laws, 

138.  i39- 

Department  of  Railways  and  Com- 
merce, 130. 

draft  proposed  for  Factory  Law, 
130. 

Federal  laws,  132-137. 

Federal  Workshop  Law,  139. 

Message  and  Report  on  Factory 
Laws,  131. 

powers  given  to  Federal  govern- 
ment, 129-130. 

progress  of,  127,  150. 


Industry,  textile,  5,  128. 
Initiative,  agitation  for,  62,  66. 

agitation  for  direct  legislative,  213. 

confers  on  the  people  power  of 
legislation  independent  from  As- 
sembly, 65-67. 

creates  individual  responsibility. 
247- 

destroys  party  abuses,  242. 

effect  of,  66,  218. 

federal,  applies  only  to  constitu- 
tional changes,  212. 

"formulated,"  26,  72,  85,  213,  221, 
235,  246,  247. 

legislative,  adopted  by  every  canton, 
except  three,  66. 

mandatory  petition,  66. 

on  labour  laws,  131. 

popular,  78,  79,  83,  222. 

popular,  for  all  constitutional 
amendments,  83. 

practical  test  in  acquiring  railroads, 
88. 

regulations  of,  68-74. 

rights  of,  44,  53.  6l>  65~67.  71- 

vote  on,  for  constitutional  revision, 

25- 
voting  on,  220. 
Insurance,   accident,    invalid,    27,    148, 
149,  150. 
by  guilds  and    corporations,    147, 

148. 
of  workmen,  compulsory,  76. 
unemployed,  143-145. 
vote  on  Federal,  148. 
Intercantonal  Concordats,  129,  130. 
International   Council  of  Hygiene  and 

Demography,  115. 
International  Labour  Association,  151. 
International  Labour  legislation,  200. 
International  Labour  movement,  188. 
Internationalism,  200,  258. 
Italy,  regulation  of  work  day,  153. 

Kirchen-Gemeinde,  40. 

Kistler,  Dr.,  41. 

Knowles,  Mrs.  (Miss  Thorn),  237. 

Konsum-Verein,  177. 

Labour,  apprentice  law,  139. 
child,  128,  133,  150,  190. 
compensation  for  accident,  134. 
contracts,  137. 

employer's  liability,  136,  137. 
holidays,  rest  days,  136,  138,  139. 


268 


INDEX 


Labour,    hours,    128,    132,    133,    138, 

i5i-i53»  io°- 
Labour  Registries,  141. 
legislation     follows     German     and 

English  acts,  137. 
night     work;     overwork,     Sunday 

work,  133,  138. 
normal,  workday,  131,  133,  136. 
payment    of    wages ;    fines,     134, 

137. 
protection  for  workers  in  general, 

140. 
protection  of  women  and  children, 

138,  139,  190. 
Public  Employment  Registries,  141. 
railroad  employees,  135. 
Relief     Stations     and     Travellers' 

Homes  for  unemployed,  142. 
Right  to  Labour,  197,  222. 
unemployed,  140-144. 
Labour  —  Arbitration,   Courts  of,   154, 
156,  158. 
costs,  158. 

disputes  settled,  160. 
how  formed,  156. 
not  always  compulsory,  157. 
procedure,    public    hearing,    testi- 
mony, 157-158. 
trades  dealt  with,  158. 
Labour  —  Conciliation  Boards,  154, 155, 
158. 
cases  not  public,  157. 
cases  settled,  160. 
power  of  Boards,  155. 
Labour  Colonies,  143. 
Labour,  Conseils  de  Prudhommes,  154, 

155,  156,  158. 
Labour,    agitation     for    factory    laws, 
129. 
factory  system,  128,  129. 
imprisonment   for   disobeying   law, 

134. 
law  drafted,  131. 
passed  by  small  majority,  132. 
provisions  of  law,  133,  134. 
Labour  societies,  union  of,   188 
Lancashire,  co-operation  in,  178. 
Land  allotments,  34. 
Lands,  common,  pass  into  private  owner- 
ship, 36. 
public,  constitution  of  1799  forbids 
partition  of,  38. 
Lands,  public,  36,  250. 
Land  tenure,  centre  of  rural  government 
and  politics,  33. 


Landmann,  Dr.  T.,  132. 
Landsgemeinde,   Commission  of    State 
elected  by,  53. 

democracy  of,  47. 

description  of,  49. 

district  assemblies,  55. 

early  adoption  in  fifteenth  and  six- 
teenth centuries,  48. 

election  of,  powers  of,  51. 

election  of  Senators,  54. 

Grand  Council  and,  54. 

memorial,  council  of,  52. 

oath  of  allegiance,  51. 

of  Glarus  in  1848  regulates  labour, 
128. 

qualified  voters,  55. 

six  cantons  have,  212. 
Languages,    German,    French,    Italian, 

Romansch,  3,  4. 
Lausanne,  municipal  nouses,  168. 

municipal  works,  164,  172. 
Law  and  decree,  definition  of,  80. 
Laws,  Alcohol  Monopoly,  117,  251. 

apprentice,  139. 

as  an  expression  of  public  opinion, 
225. 

Compulsory  Vaccination  Law,  223. 

difficulty    of   enforcing    unpopular, 
226. 

employer's  liability,  136. 

factory,  27,  128-134,  225,  232. 

federal,  76-79. 

federal,    cannot    be    declared    un- 
constitutional, 87. 

initiative  and  referendum,  68-75. 

meet   requirements   of  the   people, 
252. 

Nationalisation  Law,  100,  no,  135. 

not  multiplied  needlessly,  251. 

prohibiting  manufacture  and  sale  of 
phosphorous  matches,  134. 

railroad,  135-136. 

Railroad  Law  of  1852,  90. 

regulating  length  of  work-day,  152 

153- 
regulating  manufacture,  26. 
regulating  women  and  child  labour, 

138- 
Slaughter  House  Law,  223. 
Small  Workshops  Law  rejected,  222. 
League  of  Thirteen,  48. 
Legislation,  see  Industrial  and  Labour. 
Legislature,  members  of,  elected  by  the 

people,  212. 
Louis  XIV.,  20. 


INDEX 


269 


Lowell,  "Governments  and  Parties,"  62, 

76,  224. 
Lucerne,  adoption  of  referendum,  64. 
aristocratic  cliques,  15. 
joins    Forest    Canton    League,   in 

1332,  12. 
leaves  Confederation  and  enters  into 

relations  with  Austria,  18. 
municipal  works,  165,  172. 
rise  of  burgher  nobility,  19. 

Mark,  10,  33. 
Markgenossenschaft,  11. 
Marx,  188. 

McCrackan,    "Rise   of   the    Swiss   Re- 
public," quoted,  18,  19. 
Medical  Surgical  Society  of  Berne,  134. 
Micheli,  149. 
Milhaud,  Prof.  E.,  109. 
Milliet,  M,  116,  117,  119,  120,  123,  124. 
Muller,  Dr.  Hans,  178. 
Monopoly,  alcohol,  gunpowder,  26. 

bank-note,  match,  190. 

results  of  private,  162. 
Morgarten,  victory  of,  12. 
Municipal,  Council  for  unemployed,  145. 

employment,  169. 

Labour  Registry,  144. 

no   limitation   of  taxing   power  of 
cities,  167. 

unemployed  insurance,  143,  144. 
Municipal  ownership,  advantages  of ,  166. 

electricity,  164,  165,  166,  1 71-173. 

gas,  water,  street  railways,  164,  165, 
171-173. 

slaughter-house,  baths,  171. 

workmen's  houses,  168. 
Municipal  Works,  1 71-173. 

Napoleon,  20,  21,  59,  249. 
National  Council,  80. 

against  purchase  of  railways,  92. 

appoints  commission  to  investigate 
factory  conditions,  131. 

decides  against  state  railway  con- 
struction, 90. 

elected  by  the  people,  212. 

elected  for  three  years,  85. 

length  of  office,  24 r. 

votes  for  labour  laws,  131. 

votes  for  railway  purchase  bill,  100. 
Nationalisation,  see  Alcohol;  see  Rail- 
roads. 
Nationalisation  Law,  100,  no,  135. 
Netherlands,  regulation  of  workday,  153. 


Neufchatel,  adopts  referendum,  1879, 65. 

canton    created     by    Congress    of 
Vienna,  21. 

municipal  houses,  168. 

municipal  works,  173. 
New  York,  258,  259. 
New  Zealand,  207,  211,  257,  258,  259. 
Niederer,  Dr.  Johann,  187. 

Occupations,  198. 

Old  Age,  right  of  maintainance,  37,  145. 

provisions  for,  140,  147. 
Old  Age  Homes,  146. 
Oldham,  co-operative  city,  177. 
Old  People's  Refuge,  146. 

Party  propaganda,  233. 
Party  system,   abuses  and  dangers  of, 
228-230. 

inconsistent  with  true  democracy, 231. 
Patriotism  of  capitalism,  199. 
Pearson,  Charles,  127. 
Peasants,  democracy  of,  15. 

war,  20. 
People's  Association,  188. 
Pestalozzi,  187. 
Population,  3,  4. 
Popular  Assembly,  functions  and  powers 

of,  42,  43. 
Poor  law  Boards,  45. 
Poor  law  communes,  45. 
Poor  relief,  34,  37. 
Proletariat,  increase  of,  199. 
Proportional  representation,  32,  43,  44. 

adopted  by  five  cantons,  and  some 
municipalities,  217. 

election,  methods  of  217. 

first  introduced  in  Ticino,  216. 
Protestantism,    chief    hold    in    French 
cantons,  18. 

Berne  and  Zurich  centres  of,  18. 
Public  Employment  Registries,  141. 
Public  Ownership,  a  substitute  for  pri- 
vate monopoly,  249. 

Railroads,  accounts,  statistics,  107. 
administration,  97. 
advance  in  receipts,  106,  109. 
cantonal  policy,  90. 
companies  bring  suits  for  decision 

of  rights  under  franchises,  10 1. 
Confederation     owns     stock,     and 

acquires  voting  power,  93. 
cost  of,  103. 
debt,  97. 


270 


INDEX 


Railroads,  decision  against  state  con- 
struction; franchises  granted  by 
cantons,  90. 

depreciation  fund,  95. 

difference  between  public  and  pri- 
vate service,  108. 

employees,  105,  108-111,  135. 

evils  of  private  ownership,  105. 

fares  and  rates,  109,  no. 

federal  law  of  control  and  power  to 
grant  franchises,  91. 

finance,  97. 

first  costs,  95. 

foreign  capitalists,  99,  100. 

importance  of  efficiency  and  cheap- 
ness, 88,  89. 

labour,  wages,  pensions,  hours  re- 
duced, holidays,  no. 

law  of  railroad  accounts,  96. 

Law  of  1852,  90. 

loose  financial  methods,  94. 

National  Commission  of  1852,  104. 

nationalisation  result  of  spirit  of 
democracy,  whose  aim  is  the 
safety  and  well-being  of  the 
Commonwealth,  111. 

net  earnings,  97. 

net  profit,  108,  no. 

ownership  and  operation  greatest 
achievement  of  federal  democ- 
racy, 88. 

petition  for  national  system,  89. 

public  vs.  private  service,  108. 

Railroad  Account  Bill,  95. 

railway  budget  kept  separate  from 
federal  budget,  no. 

reasons  for  drop  in  receipts  in  1901. 
104. 

referendum  on  Nationalisation  Law 
100. 

sinking  fund,  no. 

surplus,  97,  108,  no. 

valuation,  103. 

watered  stock,  95. 
Railroad,  purchase,  adopted  bill  of,  100. 

advocated,  91. 

agreement  of,  101,  102. 

campaign  free  from  political  corrup- 
tion, not  a  party  issue,  99. 

compulsory,  93,  10 1. 

consummated,  state  administration 
begins  1903,  102. 

cost  of,  funds  for,  96. 

dates  of,  10 1,  104. 

discussions,  99. 


estimates  of,  stock  value,  98. 

excessive  values,  first  costs,  investi- 
gation of,  94,  95. 

Federal  Council  approves  purchase 
of  Central  R.  R.,  93. 

Federal  Council  advocates,  96. 

Federal  Council  against,  for  finan- 
cial reasons,  92. 

first  negotiations,  101. 

high  price  of,  opposed,  93. 

law  of,  95,  97. 

popular  movement,  for,  96. 

popular  movement  of,  96. 

price,  102  ^103,  104. 

proposals  tf,  92,  94. 

referendum  rejects,  93. 

referendum  vote  on,   100. 

right  of,  90. 

terms  of,  94-96,  103. 

vote  of  the  people,  for  and  against, 
105. 
Railroad  Companies,  Central,  93,  96,  98, 
101,  104. 

Jura-Simplon,  92,  96,  98,  102,  104, 
no. 

North- Eastern,  96,  98,  101, 102, 104. 

St.  Gothard,  96,  97,  98,  102,  104, 
108,  in. 

Union  Swiss,  96,  98,  102. 
Referendum,   accepting   Nationalisation 
Law,  100. 

Alcohol  Law,  117,  124. 

agitation  for,  62. 

application  of  principle  of,  256. 

Article  in  Federal  Constitution,  24. 

articles  of,  62,  63. 

ballot  and  method  of  election,  82,  83. 

check  on  class  interests,  202. 

compulsory,  214,  221,  244. 

conservative,  219,  223. 

constitutional,  obligatory,  result 
depends  upon  a  majority  of  the 
voters  and  the  cantons,  83. 

creates  individual  responsibility,  247. 

dates  of  adoption,  63,  94. 

destroys  party  government,  235,  237. 

determined  by  majority  of  actual 
voters,  80. 

difference  between  veto  and,  62. 

effect  of,  218. 

effect  of,  on  representatives,  224. 

factory  law,  131,  132. 

facultative,  212,  214,  221. 

federal  laws  subject  to  optional,  80. 

free  from  party  control,  228. 


INDEX 


271 


influence  of,  184,  186,  196,  197. 
invalid  and  accident  insurance,  for 

and  against,  148,  149. 
in  form  of  a  veto,  62. 
is  essentially  a  veto,  221. 
laws  on,  regulations  of,  68-74,  80. 
laws  on  expression  of  popular  will, 

228. 
legislative,  optional,  option   can  be 

denied  by  Assembly,  83. 
legislative,     result     depends     upon 

majority  of  voters,  83. 
national  match  monopoly,  rejected, 

*35- 

national  ownership  gained  through, 
249. 

objections  to,  219,  237. 

obligatory  and  optional,  64,  73. 

obligatory  in  nine  cantons,  212. 

on    dissolutions    of    Cantonal    and 
Great  Councils,  85. 

on  railroad  purchase,  93,  97,  100. 

on  tariff  distribution,  223. 

optional,  213,  214,  215. 

origin  and  introduction,  59. 

practical  test  of,  in  acquiring  rail- 
roads, 88. 

prevents   abuses  of   the   represent- 
ative system,  59. 

prevents  abuses  of  party  domination, 
242. 

prevents  corruption  in  politics,  234. 

progressive,  221. 

proposed  by  voters  or  cantons,  81. 

rights  of;  agitation  for,  62. 

secures  permanency  of  laws,   227, 
228. 

subjects  withheld  from,  81. 

value  of,  in  educating  public  opin- 
ion, 8i,  232,  234,  237,  240,  259. 

voting  under,  220,  240,  244. 
Reformation,    causes    break    in    Con- 
federation, 18,  19, 

spread  of,  in  Forest  States,  18. 
Reichesberg,    Dr.,    141. 
Relief  Station  for  Unemployed,  142. 
Religion,  3,  4,  18. 
Repond,  106,  149. 

Representative  government,  abuses   of, 
60,  61,  209-211. 

bribery,  210. 

checks  upon,  31,  57,  59. 

defects  of,  29,  227,  228. 

displaced    by    direct    vote    of    the 
people,  212. 


fails  to  represent  the  whole  people, 

243- 

failure  under  capitalism,   21  r. 

improved,  not  destroyed  by  direct 
action  of  the  people,  216,  225,  242. 

in  Freiburg  and  Valais,  212. 

party  machines,  209,  210. 

single  legislative  chambers,  60. 

suppression  of,  74. 
Richman,  T.  Irving,  54. 
Rights,  of  petition,  66. 

political,  60. 

popular,  71. 

qualified  voters,  43. 
Rochdale,  co-operative  city,  177. 

plan,  179. 
Roman  Empire,  252. 
Rousseau,  46,  59. 

Schaffhausen,  change  of  Constitution  by 
initiative,  66. 
joins  Confederation  in  1501,  17. 
municipal  works,  165. 
Schar,  96. 

Schenck,  Federal  Councillor,  115. 
School  communes,  40,  41,  45. 
Schweizerischer  Bauer- Verband,  186. 
Schwyz,   breaks  federal  tie  and  enters 
into  relations  with  Austria,  18. 
enters   First   Perpetual   League   in 

1291,  11. 
is  governed  by  popular  assembly,  15. 
Landsgemeinde,  48,  54. 
Sembach,  Covenant  of,  15. 

victory  of,  1386,  14. 
Senators,  election  of,  86. 
Short  terms  of  office,  85. 
Siebner  Konkordat,  22. 
Small  Council,  nominated  by  the  mem- 
bers of  Great  Council,  60. 
Small  countries,  lessons  to  be  learned 

from,  257-259. 
Social-Democratic  Labour  Party,    199, 
200. 
political  proposals  of,  201. 
Social-Democratic  Programme,  189,  190, 

i94,  i95- 
Socialism,  experimental,  249,  250. 
federal,  205,  222. 
German  propaganda,  189. 
opportunism  of,  196-197. 
policy  of  Swiss  differs  from  French 

and  German,  195,  196. 
revolutionary,  201,  205,  206. 
State,  189. 


272 


INDEX 


Socialism,  Swiss  organisation,  187. 
the  "International,"  188. 
weaker    than    in    other    European 
countries,  38. 
Socialist  Congress,  189. 
Socialists,   favor  purchase  of  railroads, 
100. 
oppose  purchase  of  railroads,  93. 
oppose  Federal  Insurance  Law,  149. 
petition  for  referendum  for  expro- 
priation of  railroads,  96. 
Social  reconstruction,  127. 
Solothurm,  joins  Confederation  in  1481, 

Sonderbund,  188. 

Spoils  Campaign,  222. 

Stampfli,  first  member  of  Radical  Party 

in  Federal  Council,  91. 
State  Communes,  see  Landsgemeinde. 
State  Council,  direct  election  of,  86. 

elected  by  the  people  in  nineteen 

cantons,  121. 
for  factory  law,  131. 
in  favour  of  nationalisation  of  rail- 
roads, 100. 
in   six    cantons    appointed   by   the 

Great  Councils,  213. 
length  of  office  determined  by  can- 
tons, 85. 
one  of  the  Houses  of  Assembly,  80. 
re-election  of  members,  241. 
Statistics,  age  for  school  attendance,  151. 
alcohol   trade,   profits,   how  spent, 

121. 
area,  4. 

cases  before  Industrial  Courts,  160. 
Co-operation,  176. 
language,  4. 

legal  work  day,  152-153. 
Municipal  Works,  1 71-173. 
Occupations,  198. 
population,  4. 
railroads,  98,  107. 
referendum,  64,  65. 
religion,  4. 
Stephenson     and    Swinburne,     English 
engineers  favour  state  construc- 
tion of  railroads,  1849,  89. 
St.  Gall,  joins  Confederation,  21. 
municipal  works,  165,  173. 
referendum  first  established  in  Con- 
stitution of  1831,  62. 
Sovereign  people,   cannot  be   corrupted 

or  bought,  233. 
Sweden,  257. 


Swiss  Confederation,  see  Confederation. 
Swiss  Constitution,  see  Constitution. 
Swiss,  army,  humane  conduct  ordered 

in  war,  23. 
Communal  Union,  115. 
culture,  253,  254,  258. 
Farmers'  Federation,  187. 
Federation  of  Christian  Travellers' 

Homes,  142. 
Houses  of  Assembly,  80. 
ideal  of  self-government,  247. 
individualism,  259. 
Intercantonal     Relief     Federation, 

142. 
Ministry,  responsibility  of,  235,  237, 

240,  242. 
money  system,  27. 
nationalism,  248. 
peasants,  15,  19,  185,  186,  187. 
political  organisation,  232. 
political  parties,  100,  204,  231,  236. 
politics,  free  from  corruption,  233, 

234- 
politics  free  from  corporate  control, 

233- 

treatment  of  women,  260. 
Switzerland,  climate,  3. 

complete  equality,  21,  60. 

Constitution  of  Helvetic  Republic, 
20. 

danger  of  capitalistic   control   less 
than  in  other  countries,  204,  206. 

decay  of  democracy  in    16th   and 
17th  centuries,  19,  20. 

differences    of    race,    religion,    in- 
dustry, 3,  20. 

east  and  west  join  against  common 
foe  in  1339,  13. 

invaded  by  French,  1797,  20. 

languages,  3,  4. 

not  ruled  by    party    politics,    192, 

193- 

religious  dissensions,  18. 

remains   neutral   in   Thirty  Years' 

War,  18. 
renounces    allegiance    to    Empire, 

suzerainty  of  France,  1648,  20. 
settled  in  fifth  century,  9. 
to  great  extent  a  peasant  nation,  185. 

Tacitus,  252. 

Tariff,  187,  222. 

Taxation,  27,  116,  250. 

Thirty  Years'  War,  18. 

Thorn,  Miss  (Mrs.  Knowles),  237. 


INDEX 


273 


Thurgau,  joins  Confederation;   21. 

regulates  child  labour,  in  1815,  128. 
Thun,  municipal  works,  165. 
Ticino,  first  to  adopt  proportional  repre- 
sentation, 216. 

joins  confederation,  21. 
Travellers'  Homes  for  Unemployed,  142 
Tribunal  de  Prudhommes,  154,  155. 

Unemployed,  see  Labour. 
United  States,  31,  204,  206,  209,   233 
235.  245»  246,  249,  255,  257. 
Supreme  Court,  86,  247. 
Universal  Suffrage.   60. 
Unterwalden,  Landsgemeinde,  47,  53. 
leaves  Confederation  and  enters  into 

relations  with  Austria,  18. 
liberties  of,  enters  First  Perpetual 

League,   n. 
rule  by  popular  assembly,  15. 
Uri,    charter   and    liberties   of,    rule   by 
popular  assembly,  n. 
enters  First  Perpetual  League,  n. 
Landsgemeinde,  47,  49,  51,  55. 
leaves    Confederation     and     enters 

relations  with  Austria,  18. 
under  jurisdiction  of  the  Abbey  of 
Zurich,  11. 

Valais,  adopts  referendum,  63. 

canton    created    by    Congress    of 
Vienna,  21. 

representative  system,   212. 
Vaud,  enters  Confederation,  21. 

initiative  first  adopted  by,  66. 

prohibits  sale  of  absinthe,  125. 
Venice,  254. 

Veto,  cannot  be  used  against  the  people, 
246. 


importance  of,  by  the  people,  244. 

no  presidential,  60. 

power  of  people,  167,  217. 

power  of  referendum,  62. 
Vincent,  217. 
Volksverein,   188. 
Voters,  qualifications  of,  42. 

rights  and  duties  of,  44. 
Voting,  frequency  of,  244. 

Western  Democracy,  danger  of  Asia  and 

Africa  to,  127. 
Whitman,  59. 
Winchester,  3. 

Winterthur,  municipal  works,  165,   173. 
Workers'  Federation,   188. 
Wiillschlegel,  Councillor  E.,  199,  201. 

Zemp,  Dr.,  99,  100,  236. 
Zug,  aristocratic  cliques,  15. 

joins  Forest  State  Alliance,  in  1352, 

13- 
Landsgemeinde,  48. 
leaves    Confederation    and    enters 

into  relations  with  Austria,  18. 
Zurich,  Abbey  of,  11. 

aristocratic  cliques,  15. 

co-operation  in,  188. 

forms  separate  alliance  with  Berne, 

18. 
free  city  of  the  Empire,  13. 
joins  Confederation  of  Forest  States, 

in  1351,  13. 
municipal  housing,  168. 
municipal  works,  165,  173. 
regulation  of  child  labour  in  181 5, 

128. 
right  of  separate  alliances,  14. 
Zwingli,  18. 


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